The T-Word
by dS-Tiff
Summary: The team are delighted when Cabe returns to work, but as Paige tries to adjust to a long distance relationship with Tim, an unexpected visitor arrives at the garage and throws everything into doubt. **Set during Season 3**
1. Chapter 1 - Absence Makes the Heart

**_This story is set during Season 3 between 'Ice Ca-Cabes' and 'Faux Money Maux Problems'. I thought I'd leave all the post-finale drama alone for a while a revisit happier times - of you can call angsty, pre-Waige 'happier times'?_**

 ** _I actually started writing this a year ago so it's about time I posted it. I know Tim was really unpopular and I want to explore Paige's motivations for continuing their relationship as long as she did._**

 ** _I hope you enjoy it, all reviews are very welcome, thank you kindly!_**

 **CHAPTER 1.**

"Cabe! What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Doc," growled Cabe Gallo as he strode into the garage.

"Are you sure you should be up and around already?" Sylvester Dodd asked with concern as he and Toby Curtis walked over to meet him.

"I wouldn't want my handiwork to go to waste," added Toby.

It had been three weeks since Cabe had been injured by a stray piece of shrapnel while the team had been working in the desert. He had only survived thanks to the quick thinking and skills of Walter, Toby and the rest of Team Scorpion.

"Don't worry, guys," grinned Cabe. "I've been declared fit for duty."

"The doctors do realise your duties involve abseiling down cliffs and jumping out of planes, right?" queried Toby.

"Light duties," Cabe clarified.

"It's good to have you back," smiled Sylvester and he suddenly lunged at a startled Cabe , enveloping him in a huge bear hug. Only Cabe's Marine-trained reflexes stopped him from toppling over with the impact.

"It's good to be back," nodded Cabe as Sylvester finally released him.

There had been a time when Cabe had thought it was all over. He'd had some close calls in the Marines, but this had been his closest one yet. He knew he'd been seconds from death when the team had frozen his body and then effected a temporary repair to his punctured aorta. He'd had complete faith in the team - he always did - but his life had flashed before him as he'd wondered if the task was going to be beyond even the combined genius of Scorpion. He realised now that he should never have doubted them, even for a split-second and now he had a newfound lease of life and he owed the team everything.

"Have they given you antibiotics?" asked Sylvester, grabbing Cabe by the arm and leading him towards the sofa to sit down. "He should be on antibiotics to fight infection, shouldn't he, Toby?"

"Two courses," confirmed Cabe before Toby had chance to answer.

"And a blood thinner," added Sylvester, anxiously. "To prevent an aneurysm. Tell him, Toby."

Toby opened his mouth to speak, but Cabe spoke up first. "Don't worry, kid. I've got enough pills to open a drug store."

"You should set up a schedule on your phone," said Sylvester. "With alerts so you don't forget to take anything, or worse, so you don't take a double dose! I'll help you, give me your phone."

Cabe laughed. "I think I can remember to take my meds," he tried to reassure his anxious young friend. "Besides, one of you geniuses can remind me if I forget."

"But what if we're all indisposed?" continued Sylvester. He left Cabe sitting on the sofa and got to his feet. "What if an urgent case comes up and we get separated and our comms fail?" Sylvester paced around in a circle as his mind worked overtime. "And you forget to take your meds and we can't remind you? I'd feel happier if you let me set up alerts on your phone."

"What if he loses his phone?" offered Toby, deliberately playing Devil's Advocate .

Sylvester gasped and looked horrified as Cabe frowned at Toby.

"I'm kidding," grinned Toby. "Sly, take a breath. Cabe's fine and I know he's old, but his memory hasn't started to fail yet... at least not that much."

"Hey!" exclaimed Cabe.

"Maybe you should just check his blood pressure, Toby?" suggested Sylvester. "I'll get your med bag."

"Sly, sit down!" commanded Cabe, authoritatively.

Sylvester stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Cabe, apologetically. "I'm sorry," he said, quietly. "I'm fussing and it's annoying you, I know that, but I can't help it."

" Nice to know you care, kid," replied Cabe with a warm smile. "Now please have a seat. You too, Doc. Where are the others?"

"Happy is out buying parts for something," replied Toby, as he and Sylvester sat either side of Cabe. "And Paige and Walter went to buy groceries."

"Together?" asked Cabe in surprise.

Toby nodded. "Sometimes their behaviour baffles even my genius brain," he replied with a shrug.

"OK, well I guess I'll talk to everyone else later," continued Cabe. "I just wanted to say thank you. Y'know, for saving my life. What you guys did for me, well, it took a lot of guts."

"It did," agreed Toby. "Mostly yours. In fact I think I still have some under my fingernails." He peered closely at the ends of his fingertips.

Sylvester clamped his hand to his mouth as a wave of nausea threatened to overwhelm him.

"I'm being serious," said Cabe, earnestly. "I owe you my life."

"Yeah, well... we couldn't just let you… die," replied Toby, his voice cracking with a rare show of real emotion.

He had replayed the events of that day in his mind so many times and, genius or not, he still couldn't believe their plan had worked. He was a psychiatrist, not a surgeon and he'd never felt a level of panic like it as he'd battled to save Cabe, but with the whole team working together, they had pulled off their greatest achievement yet. Happy had worked her magic to engineer the equipment they needed, Sylvester had overcome one of his greatest fears to pick up a snake and Walter and Paige had… well, they'd gone skinny dipping. Toby would never be entirely certain how that part fitted into their plan, but they'd got what they needed to keep Cabe alive and that was the important thing.

Just then the door to the garage opened and Ralph walked in. "Hey, kiddo," smiled Cabe as the young genius crossed to the couch.

"Hi, Cabe," replied Ralph quietly. He seemed more distracted than usual and it took him a second or two to realise this was the first time he'd seen Cabe back at work since the accident. "Cabe!" he finally exclaimed with delight.

Ralph had had a couple of nightmares about losing Cabe since the accident so he was overjoyed to see him looking so healthy. He slipped the straps of his schoolbag from his shoulders, put it on the floor and gave Cabe a hug.

Cabe held him for as long as he could. Not only had he come to love Ralph like he was his own grandson, Cabe knew how rare it was for Ralph to display his emotions, so to feel the boy's arms around him now meant more to Cabe than Ralph would ever realise.

"Did you have a good day at school?" Cabe asked, eventually releasing his grasp on the boy.

"It was OK," replied Ralph with a shrug.

"You're back early," noted Sylvester. "I thought you were going to stay for basketball practice?"

"Basketball?" queried Cabe, slightly surprised and Ralph nodded a confirmation. "Well, that's great! Team sports are an important part of your education, it's not all about math and science."

"I know, but it was cancelled," Ralph explained. "I called Mom and she said it was OK for Mrs McCrae to give me a ride back here. Do we have any lemonade?" Without waiting for a reply he wandered off towards the kitchen.

"Is everything OK with Ralph?" Cabe asked in a low voice. "I though Paige and Walter were getting along now? Unless that was all a show for my benefit while I was in the hospital?"

"No, everything seems to be fine between them, as long as no-one mentions the T-word," replied Toby.

"Tim," clarified Sylvester.

"I know I'm not a genius, Sly, but I'd figured that one out," replied Cabe.

"I'll go check on Ralph," said Toby and Sylvester and Cabe watched as he followed Ralph into the kitchen. "Hey, pal," he said, finding Ralph squeezing lemons into a jug. "So, you remember how I'm a genius behaviourist," he began, folding his arms and leaning against the fridge.

Ralph turned to look at it him with a frown on his face. "OK, OK, so I lied about basketball being cancelled," he admitted.

Toby leaned forward slightly so he was more on Ralph's level. "Trouble with the other kids?" he asked, gently.

Ralph shook his head. "Just didn't feel like it, that's all," he replied.

Toby could tell he was telling the truth. "You enjoyed it last week," he pointed out.

"I know," agreed Ralph. He couldn't really explain it to Toby, there was no particular reason why he'd wanted to come straight home after school today, but he had so he'd pretended he'd forgotten his kit and got a lift back with one of the other kid's Mom's. Of course he didn't really need to try to explain it to Toby.

"OK, pal," nodded Toby. "It's normal to feel that way sometimes. Maybe next week?"

Ralph nodded. "I'm so happy that Cabe's back," he said, with a much brighter expression on his face.

"Me too," agreed Toby. "Now let me give you a hand with that lemonade. Your Mom and Walter'll be back soon."

XxXxXxXxX

In fact it was less than half an hour before the whole team were back at the garage. Walter, Paige and Happy were delighted to see Cabe back with the team and Paige quickly set about making a celebratory meal.

"Come and eat, geniuses!" she called out as Cabe helped her carry food to the table.

Happy rolled her eyes as Toby raced Ralph to the table.

"Thank you, Paige," said Walter, admiring the spread as he took his seat. "This all looks edible and nutritious."

Paige laughed and shook her head, knowing that was as good a compliment as she was ever likely to receive from him.

"Hello?"

They all spun round at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. The figure of a young woman stood in the doorway. She appeared no older then fifteen or sixteen and was carrying a large rucksack over her shoulder. Her blonde, curly hair was cut in a casual style and looked in need of a wash and her jeans and jacket were crumpled. Cabe got to his feet to greet her. "Can I help you, miss?" he asked.

The girl's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Is this Scorpion?" she asked. She dropped her heavy bag at her feet and slowly surveyed the garage as she spoke. "I was expecting something more, I dunno… impressive, I guess."

Walter stepped forward, his arms folded defensively across his chest. "I'm Walter O'Brien, Scorpion is my company. Can I help you with anything?"

"I know who you are," responded the girl, boldly looking Walter up and down. "I've seen you on TV. You guys do some seriously wild and crazy stuff."

"Wild and crazy, that's us," agreed Toby, studying her behaviour with interest.

Happy stood up and addressed the girl in her usual blunt manner. "Who are you and what do you want?"

The girl's confident demeanour was suddenly gone, making her look younger than she had when she'd arrived. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't get any words out.

"Happy didn't mean to scare you," said Paige, with a glancing frown at the genius engineer. "We're just a little confused, that's all."

"I'm... I'm not scared," insisted the girl.

It was obvious even to Walter that Happy's direct approach had made the girl very nervous, despite her protestations to the contrary. She didn't say anything else. Instead she stared silently at each of the team in turn. Toby watched her with interest.

"Maybe we should start with your name?" suggested Paige.

"I'm Marnie," she replied, offering Paige the merest hint of a smile. Then her face fell and she started looking around the room again.

"What have you lost, kiddo?" asked Cabe with a frown.

"I'm not a kid!" she snapped. Then her voice became quieter. "Where is he?" she asked. All of her earlier confidence had completely faded now. "Where's Tim Armstrong?"

Suddenly the atmosphere in the garage completely changed. Happy glanced at Toby, hoping her fiancé was going to make one of his awful jokes to break the silence, but even Toby was uncharacteristically silent.

"The T-word," muttered Sylvester under his breath and he turned away, not wanting to witness whatever was going to happen next.

"Timothy Armstrong no longer works with Scorpion," Walter eventually replied, curtly.

Marnie gasped at Walter's sharp response.

"Walter!" exclaimed Paige. She was sick of Walter's childish attitude towards Tim and had to force herself to stay calm in front of their guest. She'd just about forgiven him for his part in Tim's decision to leave for the Middle East, but it still hurt every time he made a snarky comment about her boyfriend.

"I'm merely stating a fact," retorted Walter. Then he turned his attention back to Marnie. "Tim is working overseas. May I ask why you are enquiring after him? If your knowledge of us comes from TV reports you'll know Tim has not been an integral part of many of our cases."

"You just can't help it, can you!" Paige faced Walter with her hands on her hips. "For once, please…" but she was interrupted by Marnie before she could finish her sentence.

"I need to see him!" exclaimed the girl, her voice hitching and her eyes filling with tears. "I came all this way, I can't believe he's not here!"

Paige glanced at Toby and he took a step closer to them, as concerned about Marnie's behaviour as Paige was. Suddenly, the girl stumbled forward. Paige instinctively reached out and grabbed her arm before her knees completely buckled underneath her.

"Woah, steady," said Toby, rushing forward and taking Marnie's other arm. "You don't have to throw yourself at my feet," he added, with a grin as he and Paige helped her to the sofa.

Marnie's eyes were open, but she was clearly having trouble focussing. Toby pressed two fingers to her wrist to check her pulse. "G… g… get off me!" she half-whispered, trying to push him away, but she didn't have the strength. Paige couldn't help but admire her determination.

"Hey, it's OK," said Toby, releasing her wrist and holding his hands in the air in a gesture of innocence. "I'm a doctor, I just wanna check you over. You zoned out on us there for a minute. Ralph, could you please fetch my med bag?"

Ralph quickly went to get Toby's bag and Marnie reluctantly allowed Toby to examine her.

"You look exhausted," noted Paige, smiling supportively. "Have you travelled far?"

"I'm from Fort Myers," replied Marnie, weakly.

"Florida?" exclaimed Sylvester. "That's two thousand six hundred and ninety three miles away!"

"You're dehydrated," said Toby eventually. "And your blood sugar's a little low. When was the last time you ate something besides a handful of Milk Duds?"

"I'm fine, I think I should go. Coming here was a waste of time," replied Marnie, dismissively.

Her attempt to sound indifferent to her situation didn't fool Toby who could read a whole host of mixed emotions from her. "Oh, so you're fine are you?" he asked, dryly. "My mistake."

Marnie sneered at him and tried to push herself up, but she didn't have the strength and just slumped back down onto the sofa. Toby gave her an 'I-told-you-so' look, before exchanging a concerned glance with Paige. They still had no idea who she was, but already they felt compassion for her and her situation, whatever that might be. Toby could tell that Paige was worried about why the young woman was asking after Tim, but to her credit she had so far resisted questioning Marnie any further.

"I'll fetch some water," said Walter, feeling a little guilty for being so discourteous with her when she first arrived.

"It's important to keep yourself hydrated on a long flight," noted Sylvester. "Another good reason to keep two feet planted firmly on the ground."

"I didn't fly here," explained Marnie. "I've been saving for the bus ride, but… but I couldn't wait that long so I… I... um, I hitched a ride. Several rides, actually."

"All the way from Florida?" exclaimed Paige and Marnie nodded.

"Took me, like, eight days."

"Oh my goodness," said Sylvester, breaking into a light sweat at the mere thought of it. "Don't you know how dangerous that is?"

"I can take care of myself!" retorted Marnie.

"In the last thirty years there have been six hundred and seventy two reported cases of hitch-hikers being killed along interstate highways alone!" Sylvester continued, undeterred.

"Let's just be thankful Marnie here didn't make that six hundred and seventy three," noted Cabe, frowning at Sylvester.

Sylvester mumbled an apology, he couldn't help blurting out statistics and he didn't always consider the effects the information might have on other people.

Walter returned with a glass of water for Marnie and the girl gratefully took a few gulps. "I just can't believe I came all this way and… and he's not here," she said. "I mean, I don't care. It's not like it really matters."

Happy walked over to them, folding her arms across her chest. "You're talking about Tim, right?" she queried. "I'm not the best at figuring out how people feel, but I'd say it matters to you." She was a little suspicious of the new arrival. "So, I'm going to deal with the elephant in the room."

"What elephant?" asked Walter, with a puzzled expression. He looked around the garage as if a huge African mammal was inexplicably going to appear in front of him.

Toby rolled his eyes. "He's got a one ninety seven IQ, but you can write his knowledge of metaphorical idioms on the back of a postage stamp," he said with a wink at Marnie.

"It means to ask the question that everyone's avoiding," Paige explained quietly. She wasn't sure she was going to like the answer to this particular question though.

"Tell us why you want to see Tim Armstrong," demanded Happy.

Marnie gulped some more water, but said nothing.

"Why don't we save the interrogation until she's feeling up to talking?" suggested Toby. "Her blood sugars are still low, she needs to eat and rest. Ralph, can you please grab her an apple from the bowl? We can waterboard her later."

"He's kidding," said Paige at Marnie's slightly startled face.

"Look, I'm feeling a lot better already," insisted Marnie. "I think I should just go. I feel like I screwed this all up."

"You stay right there," said Cabe with a smile as Ralph handed the girl an apple. "At least until you get your strength back."

"Is it a boy-band thing?" asked Toby.

"What are you talking about this time, Doc?" asked Cabe.

"You know," replied Toby. "Boy-bands are manufactured using a very specific psychological profile to attract a wide dynamic of teenage fans, so everyone gets to choose their favourite. There's the talented one, the goofy one, the shy one, the bad boy who gets papped falling out of nightclubs and then completing the line-up there's always a good-looking one. Sometimes he's a good dancer too, but talent's not a requirement if he has great teeth and abs."

"Have you completely lost your mind today, Doc?" asked Happy.

"I think I understand," said Walter, much to everyone's surprise. "Timothy is the one with the teeth and abs. You believe Marnie's favourite member, or former member, of Scorpion is Tim, the one with no talent."

"Walter!" exclaimed Paige, but before an argument could develop, Marnie found her voice.

"It's not like that… you're nuts!" she exclaimed. "I've seen what you guys can do, saving the world and stuff and I thought you'd be like, cool, I guess, but you're just weird."

"You're in the wrong place if you want less weird, kiddo," noted Cabe.

"But… but, I need to see Tim Armstrong. I need to see him because..." she trailed off and stared into her glass of water.

"It's OK, take your time," urged Toby in his most reassuring tone. It was obvious that Marnie was finding it very difficult to say whatever it was she was trying to say. He looked over his shoulder and realised the audience wasn't making it any easier for her. "Why don't you guys back off and give our guest a little air?" he suggested.

Walter, Happy and Sylvester all looked at little guilty and spread themselves out in the garage, pretending to be busy with one thing or another. Ralph went with Walter, but Paige and Cabe stayed with Marnie and Toby.

"So, come on," urged Paige, desperate now to know why Tim was so important to Marnie. "You can tell us. Why did you travel all the way from Florida, alone, to see Tim?"

Marnie nodded and took a deep breath. She sat up a little straighter and looked directly at Paige. "Tim Armstrong is my father."

 _To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2 - Denial and Blame

**-Paige is shocked by the revelation and Walter doesn't exactly help the situation, but things are about to get even more complicated.-**

 _ **Thank you to everyone who read the first chapter of this story. I know the mention of Tim's name might have put some people off reading, but I hope those who gave it a chance are enjoying it and I promise he won't actually appear at all! All comments and feedback are very welcome, thank you kindly.**_

 **CHAPTER 2.**

A stunned silence descended. Everyone had heard Marnie's announcement, of course, but no one knew what to say.

Finally it was Paige who spoke. "I think there's been a mistake," she said, her voice a little shaky. "Tim would have told me if he had a daughter. He doesn't have any kids."

"He doesn't know about me," explained Marnie. "Mom said they only dated for a few months. It was when he was stationed at the naval base in West Palm Beach. Mom said all the guys from there dated local girls. She said the other girls were jealous because my dad was the best looking." She took another bite of her apple.

"OK, show's over people, I think Marnie needs some sleep," said Toby, shooing Cabe off the sofa.

"But what about my dad?" asked Marnie as she leant back on the cushions Paige had arranged for her. "How can I contact him? I need to talk to him."

"I can try Skyping Tim," replied Paige, with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. "But it's not always easy to get a message through."

"We should probably contact your mother," said Cabe. "I'm guessing she doesn't know you're here," he added.

"She doesn't know what day it is half the time," replied Marnie with a sigh. "She's sick, you see. She gets confused about what's real. She's having a really bad time right now, with the delusions, I mean. It's hard being with her when she's like this, she gets angry… then depressed… but she'll come through it, she always does."

"Sounds like a complex diagnosis," noted Toby, his voice tinged with sadness. He knew more than anyone how hard it was to have a parent battling with mental illness.

"I needed to get away, so I figured why not come here and see my dad?" continued Marnie. "Mom doesn't mean to hurt people, but..." she trailed off sadly and Toby gave her a nod of understanding.

"She must find it difficult to take care of you," said Paige sympathetically.

"I don't live with her, not all the time," explained Marnie. "Haven't done since I was nine. I'm back in the group home right now. Please don't tell them I'm here, Agent Gallo. I'm not going back there, they treat me like a kid."

"Scorpion doesn't take in waifs and strays," said Walter. He realised his comment had sounded harsh when he noticed the disappointed looks he was getting from Paige and Cabe. "The proper protocol would be to contact Child Services," he pointed out, attempting to justify his comment.

"Walter, two minutes of your time," said Toby, glaring at him.

Without saying a word Walter walked over to the coffee machine and started fiddling with the settings. "I was just stating facts," he said when Toby joined him.

"Tim is gone, thanks to you, so you need to get over this petty jealousy," said Toby in a low voice. He glanced back at the sofa to make sure they weren't being overheard.

"Petty jealousy?" repeated Walker, incredulously. "It would be inefficient for me to waste my time on such emotions. Besides, I am not, nor have I ever been, jealous of Timothy."

Toby rolled his eyes. "Right," he replied, "and I'm not wearing a hat."

"Yes you are, you always wear that ridiculous hat," answered Walter, momentarily confused. "Oh, I see, that was sarcasm. Well, in this case your analysis is incorrect. I admit I was uncomfortable with Tim working with Scorpion, but jealously has nothing to do with it. What has this got to do with Marnie anyway?"

"That's BS and you know it," said Toby. "Despite your best efforts Tim is still with Paige and now you're taking it out on a kid we've never met before just because she may or may not be Tim's daughter."

Walter shook his head. Then he sighed and looked a little sheepish. "I probably was a little short with her just now," he admitted. "It's not her fault if Timothy was irresponsible in his younger days." He just couldn't resist another dig at Tim. He took a deep breath and walked back to join the others.

"Marnie can stay with me until we sort this out," said Happy as they re-joined the rest of the team. Then she turned to Marnie. "I grew up in the system, I won't let you go back to that place, I promise," she said earnestly.

Walter understood why Happy was so determined after her own bad experiences in care and something inside him made him agree with her. With as much empathy as he could muster he spoke again.

"Marnie, I… I promise we'll help you find out who your father is," he began, squatting down so he was level with her as she relaxed on the sofa. Being so close he could see how pale she had become in the short time since she'd arrived. "Now try to sleep," he ordered. "We're here if you need anything."

"Thanks," she whispered, barely able to keep her eyes open. "But… but you don't have to do anything for me, I can take care of myself."

Walter smiled, he couldn't help but admire her fiercely independent streak. He could see she was exhausted so he said nothing further.

Happy was the last to leave Marnie's side before the team congregated back in the kitchen. The remains of their now-cold meal were still on the table and they all stared at it, no one really knowing what to say.

Ralph was the first to speak. "Do you think Tim really is Marnie's dad?" he asked.

He wasn't sure what he thought about the revelation. Although it had been a few weeks since Tim had left, he and Paige were still together - albeit via a long distance relationship - so the prospect of Tim becoming his new Dad was a very real one in Ralph's mind, even though it was the last thing he wanted.

"It's possible," replied Walter. "Young servicemen have a particular reputation," he added with a sneer.

"Which does not need discussing now," said Paige with a frown. "Besides, you're making a huge assumption, Walter. We have no idea of the circumstances of any relationship which may or may not have happened between Tim and Marnie's mom."

"I'll start researching Navy records," said Sylvester. "If we can at least confirm Tim was stationed at West Palm Beach within the right timeframe that would be a start."

"A simple paternity test would remove any doubt," Walter pointed out. "Paige, do you have anything in your possession containing Timothy's DNA?"

"Like a lock of his hair?" responded Paige, sarcastically. "Sure, I carry it in my purse… Of course I haven't!"

She really wished Walter would get over his jealousy. He'd had his chance at being with Paige, but he'd rejected her advances two years ago so she'd moved on with Tim and she felt it was about time Walter got used to the idea.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a toothbrush," replied Walter.

"You just want to know if Tim kept a toothbrush at my place!" exclaimed Paige, her face flushing with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

Walter couldn't deny it. Paige had always refused to discuss the details of her relationship with Tim and the truth was it bugged the heck out of Walter. He knew it was none of his business – he also knew it would hurt like crazy to hear Paige admit she and Tim had been intimate – but he was desperate to find out anyway. Part of him thought it might help him to move on if he knew Paige and Tim were in a fully developed relationship, but he couldn't be certain about that, it might make him feel ten times worse. Now was not the right time to find out, he realised.

"Sylvester, I'd appreciate it if you could start on that research," continued Paige. "At least that would be something to go on."

Sylvester nodded and scurried off towards his desk.

"I'll make some discreet enquiries with Social Services, see what I can find out about Marnie's mom," said Happy. "I know the right people to talk to without giving anything away." She headed towards her desk to make some phone calls.

Paige couldn't imagine Happy being discreet about anything, but she knew her history and trusted her judgement.

"I'll pull Tim's full service record," said Cabe. "That should help Sly."

"Already got it!" called Sylvester from across the garage and Cabe rolled his eyes. He forgot sometimes just how quickly a genius could hack into top secret military records.

"I think I'll continue working on my gas particle algorithm," stated Walter. "Tell me if you find anything."

"Aren't you even going to help?" asked Toby as Walter headed for the stairs.

"Sylvester, Cabe and Happy are doing the only things that can be done at the moment besides a paternity test," replied Walter. "There's little point in doubling up on the work when I could be using my intelligence for other things."

"OK, pal," replied Toby with a shrug. "You're just lucky Marnie's sleeping right now. All that bravado? Trying to play it cool, like she doesn't really care? It's a front, Walter. She's travelled across the country to meet her father and now her hopes are crushed."

"I'm not heartless, Toby, despite what some people think," replied Walter, glaring at Paige. "I promised her the services of Scorpion so we will provide her with whatever information she needs regarding her parentage and of course we'll ensure she has safe passage home and our protection until then."

"I'm glad to hear it, One Ninety-Seven," replied Toby.

"Ralph, I could use another set of eyes," said Walter and Ralph eagerly ran up the stairs with his mentor.

Paige started to clear away the uneaten food in silence. Toby watched her for a moment, she was clearly lost in her thoughts. "You OK?" he asked her after a couple of minutes.

"Me?" Paige seemed surprised that he was even still there. "Yes, at least I think so. It's just... well, I guess this whole thing with Marnie is kind of a surprise, that's all."

"If she really is Tim's daughter, how would that make you feel?" asked Toby.

Paige smiled at him. "Is this free therapy?" she asked.

Toby shook his head. "Just a friendly chat," he replied.

Paige took a deep breath before answering his question. "I guess I'd have no good reason to feel any different," she said eventually. "It's not like he knew about her, it's not like he's been lying to me."

Toby narrowed his eyes and studied her as she spoke. "You and Tim..." he began, but Paige interrupted him.

"Yes, you're right," she said with a sigh. "Things between us aren't great right now. There's just no privacy when you're around is there!"

"Hey, I can't help being a genius behaviourist," grinned Toby. Then his grin faded. "If it means anything, I'm sorry it ended this way."

"It's not over yet," replied Paige with determination. "We're working on it. Long distance relationships aren't easy, it turns out."

Paige sighed sadly. Before Tim had taken the job in the Middle East - and Paige was still figuring out exactly what Walter's involvement in that decision had been – things had been going from strength to strength with Tim. He and Ralph had even started getting along and the rest of the team had finally begun to accept him, apart from Walter of course. When he left, Paige thought her heart would be broken, but she had slowly come to realise that maybe she didn't miss Tim quite as much as she'd expected she would after all.

She glanced towards the stairs where Walter had ascended to the loft a few minutes earlier, knowing he played a huge part in the way she felt.

The gesture didn't go unnoticed, of course, but to his credit Toby didn't make a comment. Instead he simply said, "If you ever need that free therapy you know where to find me."

"Thanks," smiled Paige.

She really appreciated his friendship, it was good to know there was someone she could talk too about all the craziness in her life. She returned to clearing the table, but Sylvester's urgent voice stopped her.

"Guys, is anyone doing anything to our server?" he called out.

They were used to hearing panic in his voice, but even Paige realised this was a whole new level.

"Nope," replied Happy, crossing to his desk, with Paige and Toby following close behind.

"I don't even know what a server is," admitted Cabe.

Sylvester hit the intercom. "Walter!" he began, but Walter was already half way down the stairs carrying his laptop.

"I see it," said Walter, his brow furrows in deep concern. "I hoped you were running a deep level diagnostic."

"I'm not doing anything!" replied Sylvester, his voice getting higher each time he spoke.

Walter sat himself down at his desk and began furiously tapping keys on his computer. Sylvester was already doing the same and Ralph quickly joined them with his tablet.

"What the hell's going on?" asked Paige.

"Not sure yet, Mom," replied Ralph, not taking his eyes of his screen.

"We've been hacked," announced Walter suddenly, the colour draining from his face as he spoke.

"Correction," added Sylvester. "We're still being hacked!"

Sweat had starting to drip off his brow, but he didn't dare to take his fingers from the keyboard to wipe it away.

"What?" exclaimed Cabe. "I thought Scorpion has the most secure computer system in the world?"

"We do!" replied Sylvester. "Everyone, turn off your devices! Hurry! Cells, tablets, everything on our network server."

Toby, Happy and Paige quickly followed his instruction.

Cabe brought out his phone and stared at the screen. "Turn it off?" he said with a puzzled frown. "I don't think I've ever turned this new phone off... hmmm, no that's not it..."

Happy snatched his phone out of his hand, tore the back casing off and ripped out the battery. "There, it's off," she announced to the slightly startled older man.

"And that's why I love you," Toby smiled at her as he switched off the computer on his desk.

"Walter? You getting anywhere? I can't get a handle on it!" Sylvester's fingers were flying across they keyboard, each keystroke a little harder than the one before.

"It keeps bypassing everything I try," admitted Walter. "I've never seen anything like it."

"It cut through our firewall like a knife through butter!" exclaimed Sylvester.

"I'm... I'm…" began Walter, but he trailed off as he needed his full concentration for a moment. "I'm re-coding everything on the fly, but it's… it's too fast for me," he continued eventually. "Ralph? Anything?" he asked, desperation evident in his voice.

"I thought I had it just now, but it beat me," replied Ralph. "This shouldn't be happening!" he cried.

"Just focus on stopping it, pal," urged Toby, trying to keep him calm, but otherwise feeling a little helpless. "We'll figure out all the whys and wherefores later."

He glanced round to see Happy had hardwired her tablet into the server unit, but she was obviously fighting a losing battle.

"There's something transmitting from really close by, maybe even from inside the garage!" she called out. "It's piggy-backed onto our system. I can't get the server to respond to any direct commands either."

"Can't you just pull the plug?" asked Cabe. "Like you did with my cell?"

Happy's expression quickly made Cabe realise his suggestion was ludicrous, although he had no idea why.

"There's a kill switch!" yelled Ralph suddenly. He typed as fast as he could, not quite daring to hope that he could actually stop this thing. "I'm in! I've got it ring-fenced!" he announced.

"Good work, Ralph," grinned Walter, lifting his gaze momentarily to watch his young protégé at work. "Happy, do you have direct control yet?"

"Yes! Shutting it down now," replied Happy, breathing a huge sigh of relief as the server powered down.

Walter, Sylvester and Ralph sat back in their seats and looking completely exhausted. They simultaneously let out huge sighs of relief. Walter glanced proudly at Ralph knowing they might never have been able to stop the attack without the youngest member of the team.

"OK, does anybody want to tell me what the hell that was all about?" asked Cabe.

"You should call Homeland" answered Walter. "Our system was completely vulnerable for over three minutes..."

"Three minutes and twelve seconds," Sylvester confirmed.

"Whoever it was could have gained access to highly sensitive data," continued Walter. "Your tech people will need to implement their emergency security protocols."

"Still don't have a clue what you're talking about," admitted Cabe. "But OK." He glanced at his phone which lay in pieces on Happy's desk.

"Use the landline," suggested Toby. "I guess we shouldn't reconnect any of our devices until we know what that thing was and how it got in."

"Happy, you said something was transmitting the virus from inside the garage," said Paige. "I don't understand, was it one of our devices?"

"It wasn't a virus, it was a… never mind… but no, not us," replied Happy. "It was still transmitting after we all switched off our phones and tablets."

"What about her?" said Ralph, getting to his feet and pointing to Marnie who had slept through all the excitement. "She must have a cell, maybe a tablet too?"

Walter leapt out of his seat. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "How could we have been so stupid? We know nothing about this girl. She's been sent to infiltrate us and we fell for her ridiculous story about Tim."

"No, Walter," said Toby, shaking his head. "She's telling the truth. She's a kid looking for her dad, not a superspy."

"Appearances can be deceiving, Doc," Cabe pointed out.

"Not to a world class behaviourist!" exclaimed Toby, indignantly.

"You can't honestly believe her arrival here and what's just happened are unrelated," said Walter, incredulously.

"Oh and I'm sure you'd still be blaming the exhausted teenager even if she didn't believe she was Tim's daughter," sneered Toby.

"Can we please stop using the T-Word in front of Walter?" begged Sylvester. "I can't take any more awkwardness right now!"

Walter stared at him. "The T-Word?" he repeated.

"Yes, you know," insisted Sylvester. "Whenever anyone says..."

"Tim," Toby said it for him.

"Yes, thank you, Toby," nodded Sylvester. "Whenever anyone says that name you go all, well, weird."

"I do not!" exclaimed Walter. "That's ridiculous. Can we concentrate on the serious security breach we've just experienced, please?" he added with authority. "All this nonsense about Timothy is detracting from finding the source. Happy, can you locate the signal?"

"I'm trying to filter out the interference now," responded Happy. "It's a sophisticated transmitter, whoever is responsible knows what they're doing."

"Keep trying," ordered Walter. "We need to search Marnie's bag."

"I'll do that," replied Cabe.

"I'm very uncomfortable with this," stated Sylvester. "Not that it'll make any difference, I know that, I just wanted it noted."

"Duly noted," replied Walter.

"She has a cellphone and laptop in here," said Cabe, laying Marnie's belongings out on the table.

"Sylvester, check it out," snapped Walter, handing the laptop to the younger genius who took it over to his desk.

"Got it!" announced Happy, suddenly. "And I hate to say it, Walt, but you might have been right about Marnie," she added with a sigh. "Everyone move away from the couch, just to be sure."

Walter, Paige, Ralph, Cabe and Toby all backed away to join Sylvester at his desk and waited for confirmation from Happy. "Still broadcasting from here somewhere," said Happy.

"I knew it," snapped Walter angrily.

"We cannot assume she's some kind of master criminal," said Paige. "Not until we've at least talked to her and located the source of the signal."

"Wake her up," said Walter.

"She doesn't look like a spy," noted Paige.

She couldn't help but feel sympathy for the teenager's situation. If anything that Marnie had told them so far had been true her life hadn't been easy and she'd undertaken an exhausting journey across the country to look for her father which had proven fruitless.

Walter walked back to join Happy. "She must have a device secreted about her person," he said. "Happy, search her."

"What?" exclaimed Paige. "You can't do that!"

"This has gone far enough," said Cabe. "We'll wake her up and talk to her. Maybe she knows what this is all about."

But before they had chance to do anything else Marnie opened her eyes. She blinked hard and tried to sit up. Then she realised everyone was staring at her. "What's going on?" she asked in a croaky voice.

"We've had a serious breach of security and we believe you're the culprit," replied Walter, bluntly.

"I… I don't understand?" replied Marnie.

"It's OK, ignore Mr Sensitivity, we don't know what happened yet," replied Toby.

"Sylvester, anything?" asked Walter.

Sylvester shook his head and closed the lid of the laptop. "It's clean," he said. "I'll check her cell."

"That's not my phone!" exclaimed Marnie, staring at the device in his hand. "Mine's in my pocket."

Happy quickly extracted the phone from Marnie's jacket and tossed it to Walter who hacked into it in seconds. "This one's clean," he confirmed. He crossed to Sylvester's desk and picked up the phone they'd found in Marnie's bag.

Happy looked at the screen of the small portable scanner she was carrying and nodded. "That's our source," she confirmed. "And it's still transmitting."

"Cabe, do you have a Taser?" asked Walter.

"Great idea, Walt, let's Taser the kid!" exclaimed Toby sarcastically, throwing his arms in the air.

"Just hold on a minute, son," added Cabe, reaching out an authoritative hand towards Walter.

"Is that really what you guys think of me?" asked Walter, looking genuinely hurt. "I don't want to Taser anyone. I just need something to fry the device."

Suddenly, before anyone realised what was happening, Marnie got to her feet and ducked past Happy to make a break for the door. She stumbled as she ran and Cabe and Paige reacted, but neither could reach her. Walter, however, had a clear run and darted towards her. He reached out to grab her by the arm and got a touch with his left hand, but instead of a firm grasp it only served to knock the already unsteady girl completely off her feet and before Walter could prevent it she came crashing to the ground, striking her head on the corner of a table as she fell.

 _To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3 - Inevitable

**\- The team learn more about Marnie's situation and Paige speaks to Tim, but Walter struggles to connect and turns to Cabe for guidance. -**

 _ **Thank you for all the feedback on the first two chapters of this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter too, I appreciate all your reviews, thank you kindly!**_

 **CHAPTER 3.**

"No sign of concussion." Toby switched off his penlight and dropped it back into his medical bag. He snapped on a pair of gloves. "But you sure gave that forehead of yours a good whack, so if you start to feel dizzy, or nauseous, you let me know, OK? Now, I'd better take a good look at that cut."

He glanced at Paige and she lifted the blood-soaked towel she'd been pressing to Marnie's head, allowing him to examine the wound.

"Don't worry, you're going to be fine," said Paige in a reassuring tone. She smiled at Marnie, but the girl didn't react.

Walter wiped his face with his hand and crouched beside the sofa next to Toby. "I… I am so sorry, Marnie," he said. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

Marnie refused to look at him. "Whatever," she muttered.

"A little glue'll fix this," announced Toby and he set about cleaning the wound.

"I shouldn't have s…s…suggested you were in any way to blame for what happened," Walter continued. "Toby assures me you're telling the truth and… and I trust his assessment. I can't apologise enough for this."

"No-one's blaming you, Walter," insisted Paige. "It was an accident, we all saw what happened."

Paige almost had to physically bite her tongue to stop herself saying anything else. She didn't blame Walter for Marnie's accident, but she was still mad at him for the way he'd treated her and accused her of being a spy. She knew he would never have behaved that way if it wasn't for her connection with Tim. She still wasn't convinced the girl really was Tim's daughter, but Marnie believed it and Paige would respect that until they had any proof to the contrary.

"Things did get a little frantic," admitted Walter. "I reacted… badly… but, you see Scorpion is my company and… and we were under attack and I…"

"Can it, O'Brien," said Happy gruffly, cutting him off. "The kid has a head wound, she's not interested in your explanation. Accidents happen, you just said sorry, that's the end of it."

"But… but my reaction… it had nothing to do with the possibility of you being Tim's daughter," said Walter, more desperately than he'd intended.

Sylvester dropped his head into his hands. "Not the T-Word again," he muttered.

Walter either didn't hear him or decided not to react. "I need you… all of you… to understand that," he pleaded, getting to his feet and looking around the garage at the rest of the team.

No one said anything in response.

Paige rolled her eyes as she passed Toby a piece of gauze. Marnie showing up out of the blue claiming Tim was her father had shaken her, but then the cyber-attack had really frightened her because she could see how badly it had scared Walter. She knew it was supposed to be her job to guide Walter through this kind of emotional situation, but right now she didn't feel she had the strength to tackle the task.

"Come on, son," said Cabe, clapping his hand on Walter's shoulder. "Why don't we leave the Doc to work in peace?"

Walter nodded and walked off towards the kitchen with Cabe close behind. Walter opened the fridge and stared at the contents, eventually selecting a small bottle of flavoured water. Cabe watched as he unscrewed the cap and gulped down half the water without pausing for breath. Without saying a word, he replaced the cap, put the bottle back in the fridge and slammed the door shut. Then he spun round to face Cabe.

"What's wrong with me?" he hissed at the older man, torment etched across his forehead. "Why can't I do anything right? I'm supposed to be a genius, but I can't… I just can't seem to… to…"

"Hey, relax," urged Cabe. "You heard Paige, no-one's blaming you."

"It's not just Marnie's accident," replied Walter. "It's… it's everything. Tim's gone, b…b…but Sylvester's right – just hearing his name and I feel this surge of… of…. I can't even explain how I feel. Am I… am I losing my mind, Cabe?"

"No," Cabe tried to reassure him. "But I think you need to cut Paige some slack. Things ain't easy for her right now. You should be thankful she's still talking to you after the way you treated Tim."

"But I didn't mean for him to… to just leave like that," insisted Walter. "But he did and… and he hurt Paige in the process, but she blames me! This isn't what I wanted. This isn't how it was supposed to be."

Cabe sighed. Walter was right about one thing, Paige did blame him for Tim's departure, but from the few brief conversations he'd had with her when she'd visited him in the hospital, Cabe knew the long distance relationship wasn't exactly going smoothly and Marnie's arrival had only served to exacerbate Paige's doubts about Tim.

"I know it's all kinda complicated right now," he began. "But trust me, give her a little space, give her some time and it'll be OK. When I was in the hospital, I had a lot of time to think over a few things and if you ask me, the fact that she's still here at all says a lot for how much she cares about you, Walter."

"Maybe," conceded Walter. "But… but I try so hard… so _goddamn_ hard with her… and I always seem to screw it up."

Cabe put a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Don't do this to yourself, son."

"But I really screwed up today and… and probably wiped out all the p…p… progress we've made over the last couple weeks."

"You don't give Paige… or yourself… enough credit sometimes," noted Cabe, gently. "C'mon, let's go see how Toby's getting on. Homeland should be calling me back soon anyway."

Paige and Toby looked up as Walter and Cabe walked back from the kitchen.

"Now take a moment, people, to marvel at the work of a genius before I cover it with a big, white bandage," said Toby with a grin. He'd finished gluing Marnie's head wound and he sat back to admire his handiwork. "I should have been a plastic surgeon. You won't even see the scar."

Just then the phone on Paige's desk rang and Cabe went to answer it.

"There, all done," said Toby. He fastened the last corner of the bandage and peeled off his gloves. "You still feeling OK?"

"I'm fine," Marnie replied with a sigh. "Just a headache, I guess."

"Might have something to do with hitting your head on that corner," said Toby with a wink. "Don't worry, it's normal," he added in a more reassuring tone. "Just tell me if it gets worse."

"So, can I go now?" she asked, shifting her weight on the sofa in an attempt to get into a more upright position.

"Sorry, kiddo, no can do," replied Cabe, as Toby and Paige helped her sit up. "That was Homeland on the phone. The cyber-attack on Scorpion is now a matter of national security and you're our key witness. You're going nowhere."

"I have no idea where that other cellphone came from," insisted Marnie. "I had nothing to do with hacking into your stupid computer files!"

"We're not saying you had anything to do with it," insisted Cabe. "But that device was in your bag."

"I just came here to find Tim Armstrong," she snapped back at him. "If I'd known my dad worked with a bunch of crazy weirdos I wouldn't have bothered," she added, folding her arms across her chest.

"Hey, show a little respect," warned Cabe. "We're trying to help you here. We're gonna contact Tim and try to get some answers for you, Walter already promised you that. Also you could be in a lot of trouble if whoever planted that device comes back for a second bite of the cherry."

"Which is highly likely given that we were able to shut it down so quickly," added Sylvester as beads of sweat began to form on his brow. "They're going to want to finish the job."

Marnie let out a long, slow sigh. "I'm… I'm sorry… I'm sorry about all the trouble I've caused," she said. "I wish I'd never come here, I really do."

"You weren't to know any of this would happen," replied Cabe, surprised by her sudden show of humility. "You have nothing to apologise for, right Walter?"

Walter nodded. "Nothing at all," he confirmed. "No one should've used you in this way to get to Scorpion and I promise you we will find them and bring them to justice."

"Thank you," smiled Marnie and Toby and Cabe exchanged a relieved glance at Walter's heartfelt promise.

"So you told us you hitched all the way here from Florida. How many trucks did you travel in?" asked Cabe. "We need a list of suspects."

"I'm not sure… six, maybe seven, I guess I lost count," Marnie replied. "But all the guys who stopped for me, they were all so nice. I never felt scared, not once. Not even when we got lost."

"Truckers don't get lost," Toby observed with a frown. "That was a cover story. What happened?"

"Um, I was asleep in his truck and he woke me up to apologise that he'd taken the wrong turning and we were a little off course," Marnie explained. "He said he'd have to leave me at a motel, that's all. There was nothing weird about it."

"Do you remember where the motel was?" asked Cabe.

"No," said Marnie. "He gave me enough money for a room for the night, which was really sweet of him and then the next morning I hitched a lift in another truck."

"It's highly likely that the device was planted in your bag during this time," said Walter. "Then you were allowed to continue your journey none the wiser. Sly, tell me you've had some success with the phone?" he asked and he walked over to join Sylvester and Ralph who had been working on it together.

"Well, it's not a real phone, of course," replied Sylvester. "They just used an empty phone case to disguise the device. Good news is it's not transmitting anymore. Beyond that we haven't got anything from it yet."

"We will, though," insisted Ralph, tapping a few keys on Walter's laptop which he had been using to analyse the device. "I'm already through the first level of encryption."

Sylvester beamed at Walter. They couldn't be more proud of Ralph. Not only had he been the one to stop the cyber-attack earlier, now he had beaten Sylvester in the race to start cracking the source.

Walter's smile quickly faded and he frowned as he stared at the computer screen. "Whoever designed this is an expert, this technology is so new I didn't even realise it had gone into production."

"But it's not a threat to Scorpion anymore?" queried Paige.

"No, but we need to see exactly how much damage has been caused and how much data they took," replied Walter. "That's going to take me some time. Sly, you in?"

"This is going to be an all-nighter isn't it," Sylvester answered with a nod of resignation. "I'll make some more coffee."

"I'll stay and help too," said Ralph.

"No way, mister," said Paige. "Walter and Sylvester will be just fine."

"But Mom!" Ralph protested. "I can help!"

"You should listen to your Mom," said Walter. "I'm sure you could help, but this is going to be a long night and you need to sleep. Your synapses are still growing and developing, we don't want to do anything to jeopardise your future."

"Walter, you know one sleepless night isn't going to make any difference," frowned Ralph.

"Don't answer back, young man," scowled Paige. "Now start packing up your things, we're going home as soon as I've spoken to Tim."

"Marnie, I'm gonna make a few calls," said Cabe. "People need to know that you're safe."

"Please don't call the home," begged Marnie. "Just call Lydia, she takes care of me. She'll understand."

"Who's Lydia?" asked Happy.

"I've known her my whole life," replied Marnie. "Lydia and my Mom have been friends forever. I can talk to her about anything. I lived with her and Gary – that's her husband - for a while, but then Gary got sick and he was in hospital for weeks so I had to go back to the group home again. They'll be cool, they've probably already figured out where I am."

"Did they know you were planning to come here?" asked Happy, her suspicions suddenly aroused.

"I don't know," admitted Marnie. "They know how desperate I am to meet my dad. When my Mom saw you guys on TV and recognised him, I didn't believe her. She says crazy things all the time, but I showed Lydia the news report and she said it was definitely him. She couldn't believe he was there on TV."

"Marnie, I'm going to try Skyping Tim now, do you want me to tell him everything?" asked Paige.

Marnie thought for a moment before nodding slowly. "I had it all planned out, what I wanted to say to him when I met him, but… but everything's different now."

While Cabe and Paige went off to make their calls, Happy and Toby sat beside Marnie. "Do you still want to stay at my place tonight?" asked Happy.

Marnie nodded. "Agent Gallo said I can't go home, so I guess I don't have a choice."

"I'll stay too," said Toby. "Marnie has a head injury, I need to keep an eye on her." He waited for a curt response from Happy about how she was perfectly capable of taking care of Marnie on her own, but it didn't come.

In fact Happy was secretly grateful for his offer. "OK, Doc," she said. "Let's go."

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Ah, there you are. We… we thought you were still in the trailer." Walter stepped out onto the roof and walked towards Paige.

Paige heard his voice, but didn't turn to acknowledge him. She didn't know how long she'd been out on the roof, it could have been ten minutes or ten hours for all she knew.

Her brain hurt and so did her heart, but she didn't know how to stop thinking - or feeling - and make the pain go away. She didn't even know if she wanted it to stop… maybe she was supposed to go through this, maybe it was the only way? Maybe she deserved it?

"Did you… did you speak to Tim?" Walter asked, but as he got closer he became concerned that Paige hadn't answered him. "Are… are you deliberately ignoring me?" he asked, nervously, as he got closer.

"No," replied Paige quietly, but she didn't clarify which of his questions she was answering.

"I… I assume you did speak to… to Tim and the conversation has upset you," said Walter with a sigh.

"Why would you assume Tim has upset me?" replied Paige, finally turning to look at him.

Walter didn't answer immediately. Did that mean he was wrong? He longed to be able to understand her, but the more time that passed the more he began to accept the idea that he would never truly understand Paige, nor would she truly understand him.

"I… I…" he stammered. "Well, it's just that you were going to call him and… and so… I… I…"

She couldn't bear to see him suffer any longer. "OK, maybe you're right… this time," Paige finally admitted with a sigh. "It wasn't the easiest of conversations. How would you feel if you were told you had a fifteen year old daughter you knew nothing about?"

"I would not have been so irresponsible to have found myself in that position," replied Walter, immediately regretting his pompous tone.

Paige shook her head in disappointment. "Because you're so perfect?" she asked, sarcastically.

Walter swallowed and looked away for a moment. _I deserved that…_

"I assume he didn't… didn't take the news very well?" he asked, taking a seat beside her on the bench.

"You're making a lot of assumptions today, Walter," noted Paige.

They sat in silence for a while staring out across the city skyline as the sun set in the distance. Walter wanted to speak, to express himself to her, but he simply didn't know how to interpret his own feelings. He didn't have the words.

"I think Ralph is tired," he said eventually. Not at all what he wanted to say, but he knew the one thing they shared, the one subject they both agreed on, was Ralph. Ralph was safe territory.

"No, Tim didn't take the news very well," replied Paige, answering his earlier question. "In fact he insisted it couldn't be true and… and, well, let's say he called Marnie's mother a few choice names."

"It's a shame that he couldn't simply take responsibility for his actions," noted Walter. He couldn't help himself and he expected an immediate retaliation from Paige, but to his surprise she said nothing.

Walter knew the rest of the team had some kind of respect for their former, temporary team mate – and he had to admit Tim's contribution to some of their missions had been invaluable – but Walter had never been able to find any of Tim's personal qualities anything more than irritating at best. Downright repulsive at worst.

"There's no proof that Marnie is his daughter," said Paige, eventually. "All we have is her mother's word and from what Marnie said about her she's not exactly a reliable source." Paige paused and thought over the Skype call she'd just had with her boyfriend. "I've never seen Tim so angry before," she admitted.

Instantly she saw Walter's expression of disgust and wondered if she should have been so open with him, but for a moment she'd forgotten all the tension between them. It was a wonderful moment.

Walter pressed his lips together. Even with his low EQ he could tell she was really upset about the conversation she'd had with Tim and the last thing he wanted to do was upset her even more.

"He sh… should not have taken it out on you," he answered her in a quiet voice.

It was a reserved response, he'd decided against voicing what he really thought about Tim at that moment. He longed to put his arm around Paige's shoulders to comfort her, but he knew he had no right to do that, not after everything that had happened over the last few months.

Paige didn't respond. She hadn't known exactly what Tim would say, but she hadn't expected the barrage of cursing and insults he'd thrown at her. It hadn't been directed at her, she understood that, but it was a side of Tim she hadn't seen before and she didn't like it. In fact it had really shaken her. What else was there she didn't know about the man she was in a relationship with?

Even more now, she could see her relationship with Tim ending – probably soon – and the prospect terrified her, yet at the same time she felt a strange sense of calm as she moved towards the inevitable. She certainly hadn't expected this when she'd sobbed her goodbyes to Tim after their disastrous Christmas trip to the cabin. She'd thought their love was strong, she'd thought their love would endure the enforced separation, but now she wasn't even sure if she still loved him at all.

Had she ever loved him?

Her feelings had flipped upside down and she had no idea how to deal with any of it.

"Don't say anything to Marnie, please," she said, eventually. "Let's just wait and see what happens." She finally turned and looked at Walter as she spoke, her eyes pleading for his understanding. "Tim is going to get a DNA sample to us by courier as soon as possible," she added.

"It will be easier for everyone once we know the facts," agreed Walter.

"And what are you going to do about Marnie in the meantime?" asked Paige. "Do you have any idea who could have planted that device? And why?"

"The why is obvious, to disable Scorpion," replied Walter. "To what end is yet to be determined. The danger is that someone is planning a larger attack, one which they assume we could stop and therefore taking us out of the picture will allow them to carry out whatever nefarious plan they have. As for who… someone with a high level of expertise, that much is certain."

"Mark Collins?" suggested Paige. "I know he's locked up, but that hasn't stopped him before."

"I had considered the possibility," admitted Walter. "And Cabe will be investigating, but using a fifteen year old girl to do your dirty work just doesn't feel like something Mark would do."

Paige shrugged. From what she knew of Collins, anything was possible, but she was reassured that Cabe would be looking into it. "I'll take Ralph home now and you and Sylvester can work without distraction," she smiled. "But you should try to get some sleep. Exhausted geniuses are of little use in a crisis."

"Ralph is not a distraction," noted Walter. "And we will sleep if we can, but our priority has to be a analysing and decoding the device."

Paige nodded before getting to her feet and walking back inside. Walter watched her go. He sighed and forced down the anger he felt towards Tim. Then he realised he had upset Paige just as much as Tim had, albeit for different reasons, so did he have any right to harbour those feelings towards the ex-Navy Seal?

He closed his eyes, regretting all the times he'd said or done things to Paige that he shouldn't have. He was a better person for having Paige in his life, yet it seemed he was unable to prove it to her. It wasn't fair to blame it all on his low EQ, he knew that.

"I don't mean to keep hurting you, Paige..." he whispered sadly, knowing she couldn't hear him. "I love you..."

 _To be continued..._


	4. Chapter 4 - Long Night

**-It's a long night for everyone as Toby and Happy get a brief taste of parenthood. The next morning Walter and Sylvester reveal what they've discovered.-**

 ** _Thank you for all the reviews for this story so far, I really appreciate each and every one of them. I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
_**

 **CHAPTER 4.**

"Mmmm, wish we could do this every night, Sugarplum."

Toby spooned against Happy and pulled up the covers. He kissed the back of her neck, knowing it would send _those_ feelings surging through her body.

"When we're married." Happy smiled to herself as Toby's hand wandered across her abdomen. "I told you, Doc, I wanna do this properly. We're not cohabiting until there's a band of gold on my finger."

Toby caressed her thigh with his fingertips. "Did I ever tell you how sexy I find your foibles?" he breathed.

Happy pushed his hand away and flipped around to face him. "My what?" she asked, glaring at him. "What kind of dumb anatomically-correct word is that?"

"Foibles?" queried Toby with a chuckle. "It's not a medical term."

"Oh, right," said Happy, as she realised what he'd said. "Yeah, well, you might call it a foible, but you know damn well why I made that rule."

"Because your childhood sucked," replied Toby, sympathetically. He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand and pushed a few stray hairs over her ear. "So you want to do things the traditional way."

"Something like that," she agreed.

"I won't mention the pre-marital sex and you refusing to take my name after the big day."

"I'm not refusing," insisted Happy. "I'm still contemplating Quinn-Curtis, remember? And we can stop pre-marital sex any time if you're gonna be a jerk about it."

Toby whimpered, but a smile crossed Happy's face and she leaned in to kiss him. Then she rolled back over and encouraged Toby to spoon again. Not that he needed any encouragement.

"We should check on Marnie every couple hours," said Toby as he remembered they had a guest in the spare room.

"Because of her head?"

"Yeah, that," he agreed. "And because she could be a flight risk."

"Do you really think she'll try running again?" asked Happy. "I mean, she tried that earlier and it didn't exactly work out, thanks to O'Brien."

"I'm not sure," admitted Toby. "She's scared and she's got a fiercely independent streak. She took a huge risk coming all the way to L.A. to resolve her daddy issues and it didn't pay off, so she might decide to cut her losses before whoever planted that device in her bag comes looking for her."

"Poor kid," sighed Happy. She could tell how disappointed Marnie was that she hadn't been able to meet the man she believed was her father today. "I waited years to meet my dad," she added quietly. "But all that time I guess knowing he knew I existed kinda made it… I don't know, I guess I always knew I could try to find him whenever I wanted and if I chose to walk back into his life one day it would be on my terms. Marnie doesn't have that luxury."

"True," agreed Toby. "She knows she could be facing crushing rejection and she's prepared herself as much as she can, but it's gonna be tough on her whatever Timbo decides. Right now the only outcome I can see involves Marnie getting hurt."

Toby had talked to Marnie for a while before bedtime. He'd used a few concentration and memory techniques to help her recall some of the tiniest details of her long journey across the country and also about the truck driver who had supposedly got lost. Happy had immediately called Cabe with the information so he could pass it onto Homeland.

Toby had tried to reassure her girl that she wasn't in any kind of trouble, but despite her attempts to shrug it off it was obvious that Marnie had been really shaken by the whole experience. He couldn't blame her for that, it had been a weird day, even for Scorpion.

He'd reminded her that Walter had promised he would help her figure out one way or the other who her father was. At least if it wasn't Tim she would have some closure, he'd explained and she'd seemed to understand.

Marnie had also talked a little about her mother. Toby had been able to get her to open up a little about how her mother's mental health conditions had affected her and, from personal experience, he was also able to give her some good advice on how to cope.

"Maybe I'll go check on her now?" suggested Happy.

Toby sighed as Happy slipped out of bed. "Don't be too long, Lovebug," he called after her. "Missing you already!"

"Dork."

The only person – other than Toby - who had ever stayed over with Happy before was Cabe. He'd moved back to his own place a few months ago now though and the spare bed had quickly become covered in tools and motorcycle parts again. She hadn't really thought through the practicalities of having a teenager to stay when she'd made the offer to Marnie and Happy had had to clear everything off the bed so the girl had somewhere to sleep, but Homeland had agreed to the arrangement so here she was.

Happy opened the door to find Marnie sitting up in bed. She heard a sharp intake of breath as the girl realised she was there.

"Sorry, didn't meant to scare you," said Happy. "You should be asleep anyway."

"I know," came the meek reply.

Happy took two steps into the room. "You feeling OK?"

"I guess. Can't sleep, that's all."

Happy nodded. She knew she should say something else, but she also knew that displaying empathy really wasn't her strong suit.

"Um, so, can I get you anything?" she asked eventually.

"No, I'm OK."

Happy sighed and walked over to the bed. "Listen, I know this whole thing sucks," she began. "But we're all in the dark about Tim right now and about whoever hacked us, so my advice is… is… um…" She desperately searched for more words, but nothing came.

"Tell me about Tim," asked Marnie.

"Um, OK, so he's good in the field, he helped us out on a bunch of pretty dangerous cases," replied Happy, not quite sure what else she could say. "You should ask Paige if you want to know more, she's the one dating him."

"Paige is dating my dad? I didn't realise…. but I thought he left?"

"He did," nodded Happy. "But I guess he's coming back eventually. They didn't break up or anything."

Marnie stretched out on the bed and let out a sigh. "I'm so tired," she said.

"Y'know, when I was living in group homes, I don't think I ever slept properly," said Happy.

Marnie nodded. "You never know what's gonna happen do you," she agreed. "There's always something going on. I try to just ignore it, but… but it's tough."

Happy desperately wanted to tell her that everything was going to be OK, but she knew she couldn't make that promise.

"So, Toby taught me this breathing thing," she said eventually. "Helps me to relax. I'll show you."

Happy demonstrated the breathing technique and left Marnie to – hopefully – get some sleep.

"She was still awake," she began as she walked back into the bedroom. "She was asking about T... oh..."

Happy went quiet and smiled to herself when she saw Toby curled up in the foetal position and realised he was asleep. She climbed back into bed as carefully as possible. He'd been right earlier, it would be wonderful when they could do this every night... although preferably without having to babysit a teenager.

She was soon asleep herself and she didn't even hear Toby's alarm buzzing a couple of hours later. Toby was able to check on Marnie - who was asleep herself this time - and sneak back into bed without disturbing his wife-to-be.

The next alarm was Happy's and she immediately wished she'd left checking on Marnie to Toby - he was the doctor after all. She headed towards the other room, but before she opened the door she could hear a noise and realised Marnie was awake again. She pushed open the door to find Marnie sitting up in bed clutching her knees to her chest. She was breathing erratically and in the shadows of her bedside light Happy could see the tears running down her cheeks.

"Hey, you OK?" asked Happy immediately realising it was a stupid question - of course she wasn't OK. "I heard a noise," she added, as if that somehow validated the question.

"I... I... I had a nightmare," answered Marnie without looking up at her. "It was… scary."

"Not good," replied Happy. "Do you wanna talk about it? To me, I mean?" she asked, awkwardly. She really wished that she'd woken Toby now.

Marnie shrugged, but then, to Happy's relief, Toby appeared at the doorway.

"What's going on?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn.

"Marnie had a nightmare," Happy explained. "This is your department," she added, raising her eyebrows.

"OK," nodded Toby. Then his face fell into a frown as he noticed just how upset Marnie was. "I guess this nightmare of yours wasn't about Santa arriving in a pick-up and stealing all your clothes."

Happy looked at him in disbelief.

"You mean that was just me?" asked Toby, innocently.

"You had a messed up childhood," noted Happy, dryly.

Toby nodded in agreement before returning his full attention to Marnie. "OK," he said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "The nightmare was your brain's way of trying to process everything," he explained. "What do you remember about it?"

"The guy… the truck driver…" began Marnie. "The one who planted that fake phone in my bag. He… he was trying to hurt me."

"OK," said Toby in a gentle, reassuring tone. "Now, take a deep breath, let it out slowly and we'll talk through this dream. Start with a few basic details, whatever you can remember."

Marnie inhaled deeply and exhaled as slowly as she could as she tried to recall the dream. "Um, OK, well I guess I was in the truck," she began. "But inside it was huge, like a room and… and Walter was there and my mom and the lights were so bright. I wanted to get out, I was scared, but the door wouldn't open and I tried to tell my mom that the guy was coming to hurt me, but she didn't believe me. It doesn't make any sense."

"It does to me," smiled Toby. "I think there might be some information in there that could help us, but I need a little more from you, is that OK?"

"I guess," replied Marnie. "But that's pretty much all I can remember."

Toby shook his head. "It's OK, you don't have to remember any more about the dream. We're going to play a little word association game."

"Oh," replied Marnie, a little surprised.

"So I want you to relax, close your eyes and just give me the first word that comes into your mind," Toby explained. He gave her a few seconds to get herself comfortable on the bed. "OK, let's start with tree."

"Apple," replied Marnie.

Happy stood back and watched her fiancé at work. As far as she could tell he was just exchanging random words with Marnie, but she knew there was a reason behind what he was doing so she thought it best to let him get on with it.

After a while Happy stifled a yawn and Toby glanced up at her. "OK, Marnie, I think we're done," he said with a smile. "I don't think you'll have any more nightmares tonight," Toby tried to reassure her.

"Why was Mom in my dream?" she asked.

"Did you tell her you were planning to look for your dad?" asked Toby.

"I did, but she's going through a really bad time right now," replied Marnie. "That's why I figured I'd just do it, come to L.A. I mean. It's easier if I'm not there when she gets really sick… y'know, when she starts saying bad stuff," said Marnie.

"It can be hard to hear those things," Toby acknowledged.

Marnie shrugged. "I don't really care what she says," she replied, dismissively. "It's not like she even knows what she's saying."

Toby studied her for a moment. It was quite clear that she did care. "It's OK to be upset by what she says when she's sick," he said, gently.

Happy realised Toby was talking from personal experience and she could see the sadness in his eyes as he remembered how his own mother's illness had affected him when he was Marnie's age.

"What was the word association all about?" asked Happy as she and Toby walked back to her bedroom.

"That, my sweetness, was young Marnie giving me a whole pile of clues," replied Toby as they climbed back into bed. "Her senses were taking in a lot of information while she was travelling here, she just didn't realise it at the time."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"You're here at last. Gather round, team briefing."

"And a good morning to you too, One Ninety Seven," replied Toby with a shake of his head as he and Happy walked over towards the monitor tree where the team had gathered. "Marnie's fine, thanks for asking," he added. "It's not like she had a nightmare or anything... oh wait, yes she did."

Walter frowned. "We can exchange small talk later, Toby," he said.

Paige turned to Marnie and smiled. "Why don't you go help yourself to something from the kitchen?" she suggested. "We have bagels and I think Ralph's making a smoothie."

As Marnie reluctantly headed towards the kitchen without saying a word, Paige leaned over and spoke quietly to Toby.

"Something's up with Ralph," she said. "He's been quiet since yesterday. I asked Walter to talk to him this morning, but they just talked about quantum mechanics which was no help at all."

"I'll see what I can do," replied Toby. "He's probably just worried about the cyber-attack."

"Maybe," agreed Paige.

"Poor kid," noted Cabe, once Marnie was out of earshot. "I guess she doesn't know what to make of any of this."

"Cabe, I understand your concern for the girl," began Walter. "But right now you all need to hear what Sylvester and I discovered last night."

"Where is the Sly Dog anyway?" asked Toby, looking around the garage. Then he spotted his younger friend slumped over his desk.

Despite Walter's protestations, Toby wandered over to Sylvester. "Wakey-wakey!" he shouted, shaking Sylvester by the shoulder.

"Let him sleep," urged Paige.

"You heard the boss," replied Toby with a wicked twinkle in his eye. "It's progress report time."

He picked up the talking Super Fun Guy figure from Sylvester's desk and pressed the small button on the base.

A familiar cry of - _My whoopee cushion of doom will blast you to atoms_! - filled the air and Sylvester almost jumped out of his skin.

Toby collapsed into laughter. "I'm sorry, pal," he said, not sounding in the least bit sorry as he passed Sylvester his glasses. "You can go back to bye-byes later. Walt wants an update."

Sylvester blinked a few times as the world came back into focus. He glared at Toby and got to his feet before storming across the garage. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead let out an enormous yawn.

"You look like hell," noted Happy. "How much coffee did you drink last night?"

"Caffeine gives me indigestion, as you know," replied Sylvester. "So I couldn't drink as much as Walter. I think I flaked at around four fifteen."

"Sylvester, your report!" prompted Walter.

"My report," Sylvester replied. "Is that we're dealing with a highly sophisticated device."

"Even I already figured that much out," snapped Cabe.

The tension was getting to all of them and even those members of the team who'd had the luxury of spending the night in bed hadn't slept well as the worry of what had happened the day before intruded into their thoughts.

"Manufactured in China," continued Sylvester, ignoring Cabe's gruff demeanour.

"Isn't everything these days?" quipped Toby.

"It was designed to transmit on a specific frequency to cause maximum disruption to our security protocols," Sylvester went on. "Then, in our moment of vulnerability, it uploaded the code which began transmitting our data in packets. We're working on a trace program now, but it's taking time."

"So far we've only been able to trace a small number of the destinations," added Walter.

"Packets?" queried Cabe.

"Yeah, like chips," said Toby, with as serious a face as he could muster.

Walter frowned at him. "What's got into you today?" he asked. "You're being even more irritating than usual."

"I do my best," grinned Toby as if it was a compliment.

"Data packets," Sylvester clarified. "The data is broken down into small, encrypted chunks and bounced around from server to server then reassembled at the final location. It makes it almost impossible to trace."

"Impossible for some people," noted Walter with a smug smile.

"So you know who hacked us?" asked Paige in surprise. She would never cease to be amazed at the skills of her genius friends.

"Not exactly," replied Sylvester. "Well, possibly... that is, I hope we're wrong."

"Why?" asked Happy. "As a general rule we don't like to be wrong."

Sylvester exchanged a glance with Walter and Toby sat up straighter, recognising the concern etched across both of their faces.

"Because from what we can tell, we were hacked by... by the US military," explained Walter. "US Navy, to be more precise."

"What?" exclaimed Cabe. "You sure? I mean, I don't normally doubt you guys, but... are you absolutely sure?"

Sylvester nodded seriously. "We double and triple checked the results."

"Details are still sketchy," continued Walter. "But the... the data tags we managed to trace were unmistakable."

"What does it mean?" asked Happy. "I thought we were on the same side? If the Navy want intel on us surely they could just go straight to Homeland?"

"We don't know what it means yet," replied Walter, curtly. He hated not having all the answers. He was exhausted, but he knew even if he went to bed he'd never be able to get to sleep because his genius mind was racing through all the possible scenarios.

"So where do we go now?" asked Happy, shifting her weight from one foot to the other impatiently.

Walter glanced sideways at Paige and cleared his throat before answering. "The obvious place to start our investigation is... is Tim Armstrong."

"What?" exclaimed Paige. "You think Tim hacked us? Come on, Walter, this attitude of yours is getting ridiculous! You can't blame Tim for this!"

"I'm not suggesting for a moment that Tim was the one who hacked us," Walter tried to explain. "But... but he has connections with the Navy and a sophisticated hacker may have been able to access his codes and..."

"He's ex-military and ex-Homeland, Walter!" exclaimed Paige, throwing her hands in the air. "He's not an idiot. I've heard enough. I'm taking Ralph to school."

Walter reached out his hand and opened his mouth to speak as she stormed off - to try to defend himself - but nothing came out.

Toby shook his head. "You really know how to dig a hole for yourself don't you, One Ninety Seven," he said.

"T…T...Tim is just one line of enquiry I'm suggesting we pursue," Walter tried to explain.

"Oh well in that case I'm sure Paige'll completely understand why you randomly decided to accuse her boyfriend," retorted Toby sarcastically.

"Please, can we stop arguing about Tim all the time!" begged Sylvester.

Walter nodded sadly. He'd upset Paige again and he hated himself for it. He glanced up as Paige marched Ralph across the garage and then left without saying goodbye. He closed his eyes and tried desperately to understand why this kept happening, but he didn't have any answers. He couldn't process this now, it would have to wait.

"What did Homeland have to say about the breach?" Walter asked Cabe, forcing all thoughts of Paige from his mind.

"I spoke to some tech guy," replied Cabe. "He doesn't believe any sensitive data was compromised at their end."

"Homeland security protection is better than ours then," noted Toby.

"That's... humiliating," acknowledged Walter.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," said Cabe. "This was a direct attack on Scorpion, from what I understand we really didn't stand a chance."

"We didn't," nodded Sylvester sadly.

"The important thing is you were able to stop it before anything too serious happened," said Cabe.

"Yes, thanks to Ralph," replied Walter proudly.

"Cabe, did you call Marnie's mom's friend?" asked Happy.

"Lydia? Yes, I called her last night," Cabe confirmed. "Apparently this isn't the first time the kid's tried something like this so she wasn't too worried about her."

"A teenager goes missing for eight days and she wasn't worried?" exclaimed Toby. "Interesting."

"Oh Lydia was worried," explained Cabe. "Just not too worried. She figured Marnie would come back sooner or later like she has before."

"Still, not a very responsible attitude," noted Sylvester.

"Anyway, I told her Marnie was a potential witness in a federal case and she was under the protection of Homeland for the next day or so," added Cabe.

"I believe Paige spoke to… to Tim last night," said Walter, awkwardly. He didn't think Paige would want everyone to know all the details of the call. "He is sending us a DNA sample. It should be here in the next forty eight hours."

Toby narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that there was far more to the phone call than Walter was letting on.

"Toby," hissed Sylvester, who had realised it too and he leaned over and glared at the Doc. "Don't. Please don't."

Toby gave him an innocent look, but they both knew he wouldn't be able to let it go.

 _To be continued..._


	5. Chapter 5 - DNA

**-It's all starting to get too much for Paige and Walter doesn't know what to do for the best. Then the question of Marnie's paternity is finally answered.-**

 _ **Thank you - as always - to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review on this story so far. Every one of them means so much to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!**_

 **CHAPTER 5.**

"We're back!"

Happy and Walter looked up from their desks at the sound of Toby's voice as he and Cabe got out of the older man's car.

Walter opened his mouth to speak, but before he had the chance to say anything Paige jumped out of the passenger seat, slammed the door and stormed across the garage. For a few seconds the only sound was the clicking of her heels on the hard floor as she marched towards the ramp and then disappeared up to the loft.

"I take it your visit with Collins went well?" offered Happy, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Just like old times," replied Toby, rolling his eyes as he and Cabe walked over to join them.

"Wait… you went to see Mark?" queried Walter, sitting bolt upright in his chair as the information sunk in. "Why wasn't I informed?"

Cabe folded his arms across his chest. "Because you and Collins have too much history," he replied.

"What… what did he say?" asked Walter. "Is he claiming involvement in the cyber-attack?"

"Nope, he's clean... at least I think he's clean. Never can be sure with a genius sociopath," replied Toby. "But you know Mark, he managed to mess with Paige's head before I could stop him." He sighed deeply and threw his hat over to his desk. "I should never have agreed to her coming in there with me," he added quietly.

"Hey, Doc," began Cabe in a sympathetic voice. "Don't beat yourself up. Collins refused to let me in the room and Paige insisted one of us should have your back in there after what he did to you the last time."

"There were two security guards in that room," replied Toby. "I doubt even Collins would've tried to kidnap me again…"

"Or tried to kill you again," Happy interrupted with a pointed look.

"Thank you for reminding me, Sugarplum."

Walter got to his feet. "I'll go up and see if she's OK," he said.

"No, no," answered Toby, waving his hands in front of him. "I'll go."

"But…" began Walter.

"Let the Doc do his thing on this one, son," insisted Cabe. "I need a coffee," he added before walking over to the coffee machine.

Walter hesitated as Toby ran up the steps to the loft two at a time. He wanted to be the one to comfort Paige, not Toby. He wanted to hold her, to tell her that everything was going to be OK, that whatever Collins had said to her wasn't important, but instead he just slumped back down in his seat and tried to focus on deciphering the source of the cyber-attack.

He was convinced Tim was somehow connected to what had happened, but he still had no proof. He was determined to find a way to show to Paige that his suspicions weren't personal, but based on simple logic. The attack was linked to the Navy, Tim was a former SEAL, Marnie had unwittingly carried the device, Marnie had come here looking for Tim – anyone else should be able to see that it was all too much of a coincidence to ignore, but Paige had only seen Walter's jealousy rearing its ugly head again.

Walter sighed. He and Sylvester had made frustratingly little progress in the last forty eight hours and he couldn't allow himself to get distracted by anything… or anyone…

Happy casually walked over to join Cabe at the coffee machine. "I'll have one too," she said. "Black, strong."

"Sure," replied Cabe and picked up another cup.

"So… what did Collins say to the waitress?"

Cabe put down the cup and glanced over his shoulder to make sure Walter wasn't eavesdropping. "The bastard accused her of 'parading'…" – he began, miming air quotes – "…her relationship with Tim in front of Walter."

"Why the hell were they talking about Tim?" asked Happy.

"I don't know," replied Cabe. "Toby said Collins somehow just picked up on something Paige said. The crazy scumbag's sharp as a razor, I'll give him that."

"He had a point about Tim, though," noted Happy.

Cabe frowned. "Hey, you know I care about Walter as much as you do, but Paige has every right to date whomever she wants. It's not like Walter hasn't had his chances with her and he's blown every single one of 'em."

"O'Brien acted like a total jerk around Tim," agreed Happy. "But Paige is the one normal human who's supposed to understand him."

"I just don't know what to think about those two anymore," admitted Cabe. "Let's hope the Doc can calm her down."

"Toby can calm anyone down," replied Happy proudly.

"I'm not doubting your fiancé's skills for one minute," explained Cabe. "But the mood Paige is in… he's certainly got his work cut out this time."

Up in the loft Toby found Paige pacing around in a circle, her arms clutched tightly around her. Her breathing was rapid and shallow and tears were trickling down her cheeks.

He approached slowly, realising she wasn't aware of his presence. "Paige," he said in a low voice.

No response. Toby pressed his lips together and took another step closer.

"Paige." A little louder this time.

Paige gasped and immediately stopped pacing. "Go away," she hissed, angrily wiping the tears from her face with her hands as she spoke. "I don't want to talk."

"I know you don't," Toby replied, softly. "But you need to. Take a look at yourself."

Paige glared at him. "I don't need a shrink," she insisted.

"Well, I can offer an expert poker player, a genius engineer's fiancé, or - if you want to get really dark here – an addict," replied Toby. "Or… what about a friend?"

Paige's expression softened slightly, she knew he was only trying to help, but right now she just wanted to pace and cry.

"I can analyse myself this time, Toby," she said. "I knew the guy was deliberately trying to provoke me, but… but I overreacted because things with Tim are... are kinda delicate right now and my friendship with Walter is even more delicate. The last person I wanted to discuss it with was… was… goddamn Mark Collins, though and what he said made me sound like a… like a total bitch!"

"Why don't we sit down?" suggested Toby and he led her by the elbow towards Walter's couch.

He knew Paige's first instinct was always to defend herself if she felt she, or someone she cared about, was under attack and he admired her for it – his first instinct in those circumstances was usually far more cowardly in nature – but sometimes she had a tendency overreact and this had definitely been one of those times.

Paige allowed him to talk her through some breathing exercises until she felt less like she was going to puke. Collins' words had hurt deeply and she was angry with herself for giving him the satisfaction of seeing just how much, but she simply hadn't been able to hold herself together so she'd yelled at him using the kind of language Happy would have been proud of and then run out of the room.

"OK?" asked Toby, gently as her breathing began to return to normal.

Paige nodded. "I guess," she replied, forcing a small smile onto her lips. "Thank you. Um... I... I... um... I don't really know what to say?" She let out a long, slow sigh and dropped her chin to her chest. "I guess Walter saw me just now?"

"Don't worry about One Ninety Seven," Toby replied. "I can deflect his attention away from this, you don't owe him an explanation."

"Don't I?" She lifted her head. "Mark Collins seems to think I do?"

"Collins enjoys pushing people's buttons," explained Toby, not at all surprised by the guilt markers she was displaying. "He gets his kicks from messing with your head."

"Collins doesn't know anything about me, he only met Tim for, like, five minutes last year when we rescued you so how dare he make judgements about our relationship?" Paige could feel her anger returning. She took another deep breath, determined not to allow herself to lose control again. "I never meant to hurt Walter, Toby."

"I know."

"But it all got so complicated," she continued. "I thought he didn't want a relationship... he told me as much, remember? You guys were all eavesdropping."

"I remember," nodded Toby. "So why don't we start there? Tell me how that made you feel. Not... not the eavesdropping, I didn't mean..."

"I know," Paige interrupted him, the corners of her mouth twitching into a tiny smile. Then her face fell again. "It seems so long ago now, but back then I thought Walter felt the same way I did so I guess his reaction made me feel... it made me feel... like a fool. I basically threw myself at him and he rejected me, Toby. I felt rejected, that's how I felt."

Toby nodded understandingly. The whole team had been taken aback when Paige and Walter had agreed to stay just friends after she'd kissed him as he recovered after the accident that had left him dangling precariously over a cliff in Richard Elia's Ferrari. Their feelings for each other had seemed so obvious to everyone back then, not just to Toby, yet Walter's creation of the non-fraternisation policy and Paige's agreement to it had seemed totally at odds with the way they'd both behaved around each other up until that point.

"Then Tim came along and it was so easy with him," continued Paige. "So I moved on, what else was I supposed to do? But I didn't deliberately try to rub Walter's nose in it. We all worked together, I couldn't help it that Walter saw us together almost every day, that wasn't my fault! The way he behaved was childish, though, Toby. His attitude towards Tim... it made no sense."

"It does now though... right?"

Paige knew exactly what he was referring to. "You mean because of what he said when he was in space?"

Toby nodded.

The truth was Paige didn't know what to think about Walter's oxygen-starved declaration of love. If he loved her after all, why had he pushed her away?

Paige twisted her hands together in her lap. _Walter loved her after all_ \- at least he did in his subconscious – and she had no idea how to process that information so instead she'd spent the last few months trying desperately to forget. She was with Tim and they were happy together... except now they were thousands of miles apart and everything had changed. She wasn't happy at all and Marnie's arrival had just seemed to make it all worse.

"Paige?" Toby was suddenly concerned. Paige looked on the verge of tears again, but he could tell her thoughts had wandered.

"Huh?" She sounded almost surprised to hear her name. "Oh, um... sorry, did you say something?"

"Just, um… Tim... last night when you called him..." He let his words hang, knowing just how far he could push Paige.

"It wasn't great," she admitted. "But he was just shocked and angry when I told him about Marnie. He didn't mean to... to say those things to me."

"What exactly did he say to you?" Toby knew Tim had a short fuse at times, but he'd never directed his temper at Paige before.

"It was nothing," she replied dismissively.

"Oh, sure," nodded Toby, pursing his lips in a sarcastic gesture. "And it's got nothing to do with what happened this morning either. Nothing at all."

Paige's brow furrowed. "OK, so I was pretty upset last night," she said reluctantly.

"I think you're in danger of being so overwhelmed right now that you'll burn out," said Toby in his most professional voice. "You're trying to deal with too much at once."

"I can handle it, Toby."

"Oh you can, can you?" shrugged Toby. "You're handling it so well you just had a total meltdown today in front of our friendly neighbourhood sociopath. Too many ingredients in the Paige Dineen Pressure Cooker… and it blew."

Paige opened her mouth to say something in her defence, but closed it without saying a word as she realised he was right.

"Take some time out" Toby urged. "Try to figure out what... or who your priority is right now."

"Ralph," she replied quickly. "Ralph is always my number one priority."

Toby smiled. "We've been here before haven't we," he said.

Paige smiled back and nodded in agreement. "OK, I get it," she admitted. "I need to focus on one thing at a time."

Just then Happy's voice came over the intercom. "Courier's here."

Toby and Paige exchanged a glance before Paige took another deep breath. She knew whatever the outcome of the DNA test, things were different now between her and Tim. She also knew it wasn't Marnie's fault and she didn't want the girl to see how difficult she was finding the whole thing.

Toby raised his eyebrows in an enquiring gesture and Paige nodded to signify she was ready.

They walked down the stairs to find Sylvester holding the package at arms' length.

"It's not a bomb, kid," noted Cabe.

"Maybe not in the literal sense," replied Sylvester. "But metaphorically…" He glanced sideways at Toby who nodded in agreement.

"I'll set up the DNA sequencer," announced Walter and he snatched the parcel from Sylvester and half-ran over to the work bench, picking up his tablet from the table on his way past.

Toby turned to Marnie who was standing with Happy, looking very nervous. She'd spent the morning playing Proton Arnold, trying her best to keep out of Walter's way, but now she knew it wouldn't be long before she discovered the truth about her Dad.

"I'm just going to need a sample of your DNA," said Toby. He walked over to his desk and found his hat where he'd thrown it earlier. He dropped it back onto its rightful place on his head and grabbed his medical bag from under the chair before moving a pile of books from the corner of the desk. "Come sit up here for a second," he added. "I promise you it won't hurt."

"I know," replied Marnie, folding her arms across her chest. "I'm not an idiot. You just have to collect a few cells from inside my mouth, right? We did this in science class."

Toby nodded approvingly and pulled on a pair of blue examination gloves. "That's right," he confirmed. "It'll be over before you know it and then you can go back to sulking."

Marnie scowled at him and marched across the garage. She pulled herself up onto Toby's desk and watched as he unwrapped a sterile swap from its packaging. Without saying a word she opened her mouth and Toby swiped the swab over the inside of her cheek.

"All done," he said as he carefully placed the swab into a sterile case. "How's your head this morning?" he asked before she had a chance to leave. "I didn't hear you in the night, I take it your second night at Hotel Happy was more restful than the first?"

"Head's fine and yes I slept better last night, no nightmares," she replied, huffily. "Can I go now?"

"Sure."

She jumped down off the table, but Toby wasn't finished with her.

"I know you're scared," he said, gently.

She spun round to face him. "I just wanted to meet my dad, that's all." She swallowed hard. "Coming here… it was supposed to be an adventure."

"I get it," Toby replied with an understanding nod. "But hey, it won't take long to analyse these samples and then at least you'll know one way or the other."

Marnie sighed and shrugged before sauntering off to play another game of Proton Arnold.

"Poor kid," noted Cabe, walking over to join Toby. "Maybe I should try talking to her?"

Toby was about to give him a sarcastic answer when he realised Paige was heading towards Marnie. "Looks like someone beat you to it," he noted, nodding in their direction.

Cabe turned his head and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I'd better get this to Walter," said Toby and he left Cabe to watch Marnie and Paige from a safe distance.

"Did you get the sample?" asked Walter, without looking up as Toby joined him.

"Dammit, I knew there had to be a reason why Marnie was sitting in front of me with her mouth wide open. I thought she was hungry."

Walter shot him a dry look.

"Here," said Toby, holding the sample case aloft.

"The DNA sequencer is calibrated," said Walter. "I'll start with Timothy's sample."

He quickly unwrapped the parcel that had just arrived all the way from the Middle East.

"Styrofoam" he mumbled as he opened the box inside and removed the protective packaging. "I assume Timothy is unaware that this material will never fully biodegrade?" he added, rolling his eyes. "Our planet is already polluted enough without ignorant ex-Navy SEALS making it worse."

Toby threw a pair of gloves across the bench at him, snapping him out of his grumbling. "OK, that's enough," he pleaded. "This ain't about you butting heads with Tim, it's about a fifteen year old kid who needs to know where she came from."

Walter shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He wished he could keep his personal feelings at bay and he'd actually started to find some inner peace over the past few weeks when he thought about Tim and Paige together, but now his rage had returned. He knew it wasn't fair on Marnie, or Paige, but he didn't know how to control it anymore.

"You know I don't really believe Timothy is directly responsible for the cyber-attack… don't you?" he said.

Toby nodded. "I get it, he's the obvious link, but the way you said it yesterday it sounded – to Paige, at least - like you were blaming him for personally coding the virus."

"It wasn't a virus… you really need to update your knowledge in this area, Toby," replied Walter.

"You stick to the tech stuff, One Ninety Seven, I'll stick with what I know," Toby answered him. "Now put on the gloves, we don't want any cross contamination. Poor kid's in enough trouble already without thinking she's got O'Brien blood in her veins."

"Don't be ridiculous, I've never even met her mother." Walter snapped on the gloves before setting the DNA sequencer to work on the first sample.

Then he looked up at Toby. "So… um… how's Paige?" he asked as casually as he could muster.

"Peachy," replied Toby. "Happy as Larry, full of the joys of spring, over the moon…"

"Toby!"

"Oh you want a serious answer? She's missing Tim." Toby knew there was far more to it than that, but that was all the information he was going to give Walter under the circumstances. "And Mark took advantage of it this morning. She just got a little spooked, that's all."

Walter nodded slowly. "I… I just feel like I'm not helping her situation at the moment. I thought things had improved between us since Cabe's accident – it almost started to feel comfortable like it used to before… before he came along… Timothy - but now I'm so afraid of upsetting her again, I get tongue tied and I just wind up saying the worst possible thing. We've been friends for two and a half years, but… but it's as if we don't know each other at all."

Toby was a little surprised at his candid comments. "She's feeling kinda fragile, that's all," he said.

The machine beeped, indicating it had finished analysing Tim's DNA, so Toby quickly reset it and started the analysis of Marnie's sample. Walter remained silent as he pondered Toby's words, while his fingers danced across the screen of his tablet as it processed the data from the sequencer.

"Y'know, there is something you can do if you want to get back into Paige's good books," said Toby.

"There is?" Walter stood up straight, his heart full of hope.

"Yeah - Ralph. Something's eating at the kid right now," replied Toby. "Paige can't seem to get through to him and he's giving me nothing. Maybe you could talk to him?"

Walter nodded emphatically. "Yes, yes, I can do that," he agreed. "I want R…Ralph to know that he can still come to me if he needs my help with anything. I hope he's not upset with me because of what happened with… with Timothy?"

"Pretty sure Ralphy-boy doesn't care about Tim," Toby answered.

"But he cares about Paige."

The conversation was halted by the beeping of the DNA sequencer. Toby glanced at the screen and raised his eyebrows before passing it to Walter and removing his gloves.

Walter was emotionless as he took the device from Toby and waited for his tablet to process the results. He pulled off his own gloves and stared at the two screens, but Toby could tell he wasn't really taking in the information he was looking at, his mind was drifting.

Eventually Walter seemed to focus again. "Hmmm," he said. He passed his tablet across the table to Toby and Toby pressed his lips together as he scanned the data in front of him.

The evidence was conclusive, there was no doubt.

"Well, I guess we should go break the news to Marnie," said Toby.

Walter nodded seriously. "I'll tell her. I owe her that much."

A few minutes later Marnie was sitting in the middle of the sofa with Paige and Toby on either side. Sylvester, Cabe and Happy were attempting to maintain a respectful distance, but were desperate to overhear what was about to be said.

Walter seemed to be taking forever to say anything. Toby studied Marnie, she was putting on a brave face, her dismissive attitude belaying her real feelings. Not unexpected, he acknowledged, but then he was distracted by Paige. She was displaying so many mixed markers and he was becoming more concerned by the minute.

Paige wrapped her hands around Marnie's and squeezed, flashing her what she hoped was a supportive smile. She knew Marnie would need support, whatever the outcome and she was determined not to let her own inner turmoil affect her ability to help. Paige could feel her heart beating in her chest. She didn't know how she was going to feel whatever the results of the test were.

Walter cleared his throat. "So, DNA is comprised of…"

"Walter!" exclaimed Paige.

"Not the time for a science class, Walt," said Toby.

"Oh, right, yes," agreed Walter. He cleared his throat again. "The analysis of the DNA samples is complete. Toby and I concur, the results are indisputable. Timothy… er, Tim Armstrong is indeed your biological father."

 _To be continued..._


	6. Chapter 6 - It's Complicated

**_-_ Paige struggles with her feelings and Cabe offers her a shoulder to cry on. Then Walter has a talk with Ralph _.-_**

 _ **Thank you to everyone who is following this story, I appreciate all the reviews. I really hope you enjoy this chapter, especially if you love those precious Walter and Ralph moments as much as I do. :)**_

 **CHAPTER 6.**

"Do you think she's OK? Should we check on her?"

"I don't know, kid. At least the yelling's stopped."

Cabe and Sylvester stood outside the Airstream looking nervously at the door. Paige had been in there for over an hour. There had been _a lot_ of yelling, Paige's voice at one point had almost reached screaming pitch. They'd even heard Tim's raised voice over Skype coming through the small speakers of Paige's laptop and although they hadn't been able to make out his words it was obvious the conversation hadn't gone well.

Sylvester wrung his hands together nervously. "It's not Paige's fault," he said. "I'm kinda surprised at Tim, he shouldn't be taking this out on her."

"Me too," agreed Cabe. "Thank God Happy and the Doc took Marnie to Kovelsky's before it all kicked off."

"Walter made himself scarce pretty quickly too," noted Sylvester. "He's really got to get over this whole Tim thing, he's just making it worse for Paige."

"He's getting there," replied Cabe. "But it's not easy for him, you know that. The one person he would normally talk to about his emotional issues is the one person he _can't_ talk to."

Sylvester nodded seriously. "OK," he said, taking a step towards the trailer. "I can't take it anymore. I'm going in."

"Do you really want to do that?"

"No. Emotional Paige terrifies me."

Cabe chuckled. "Don't worry, I've got this," he replied and patted the young genius reassuringly on the shoulder.

Sylvester scurried off back to his desk and Cabe steeled himself before opening the small door. He stuck his head inside the trailer.

"Paige?"

Paige was sitting on the tatty couch with her laptop open on the tiny table in front of her. She was staring at the screen, but it was blank.

"Paige?" Cabe stepped inside. She didn't seem to know he was there. "Hey, Paige, you OK?"

This time Paige blinked deeply and turned her head.

Cabe sat down beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He'd never seen her like this before and he didn't know what else to say. He gently squeezed her arm, hoping the gesture would be enough.

"He… he doesn't want to talk to her," said Paige eventually. Her voice was weak and raspy. "He said he'd send money, but that's all."

"Y'know, he's probably still in shock," said Cabe. "Maybe he'll change his mind in a few days when it's sunk in?"

Paige shook her head slowly. "I don't… I don't think so."

She wanted to cry, or scream, or do something to release the terrible feeling that had built up inside her, but she didn't know where to start so she just rested her head on Cabe's shoulder and tried to breathe.

"So, um, is it over? You and Tim…?" asked Cabe. He'd been half expecting the relationship to end for the past few weeks and he'd already thought of what he hoped were the right things to say to her. He had a lifetime of fatherly advice stored and now he was getting the chance to use some of it.

Paige lifted her head and gave him a puzzled look before shaking her head. Cabe was stunned, how could she not have broken up with the guy after the huge fight they'd just had?

"No, we didn't really talk about us… not really," she replied, quietly. She felt numb, cold, empty. Maybe she should have ended things with Tim, but in the moment it had felt wrong. He was angry, the circumstances were exceptional, he didn't mean those words… he didn't mean them… did he?

"OK," Cabe answered. "Is he gonna fly home?"

Paige shook her head. "He doesn't want anything to do with Marnie."

"I meant to see you."

"Oh… um, no," Paige answered. "Cabe, I…. I don't think he's the man I thought he was."

Then the tears came. Cabe pulled her close and held her tight as she sobbed. "Sshhh," he soothed. "It's gonna be OK."

"I… I think I've made a terrible mistake!" she wailed. "How can… can anyone say that about their own child? I'd do anything for Ralph. I'd lay down my life for my son."

"I know, I know," replied Cabe, softly. "But… and I'm in no way condoning Tim's actions here… but this is a whole different situation. He didn't know for sure he had a daughter until an hour ago."

"He was so good with Ralph," sniffed Paige. "I wanted us to be a family… a normal family…"

"You want normal you're in the wrong place, kid," noted Cabe with a wry grin.

"I'm not giving up," said Paige with sudden determination. "Maybe you're right? Maybe once he calms down he'll change his mind. I'm not throwing away what we have just because he has a daughter. If anything this might bring us even closer together?"

Cabe leaned back and let out a slow breath. "You changed your tune pretty quickly there. From where I'm sitting I don't think you know _what_ you want."

"Sometimes you can't have what you want," she pointed out, drying her eyes with a tissue.

Cabe nodded slowly. He knew what, or rather _who_ , she really wanted – everyone did – but the only two people who could make it happen were the two people, it seemed, who were least well equipped to achieve it. For a fleeting moment he considered calling Walter down from the loft and locking him in the trailer with Paige and not letting them out until they'd talked openly and honestly about their feelings, but then he realised maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all, at least not until this mess with Tim was resolved one way or another.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" he offered.

Paige smiled gratefully. "Thanks," she said. "I don't want to be here right now. I, um, I'd rather we didn't tell Marnie about this, not yet. I don't want to shatter her dreams while there's still a chance we might not have to."

"OK," agreed Cabe. "I'll talk to the Doc when they get back, see if he has any ideas. I take it you're OK with me telling Toby and the others?"

Paige shrugged. "There are no secrets in this place," she pointed out. "Walter… Walter's going to love this. As if he needed any more ammunition against Tim."

"Look, Walter and Tim… that is, I don't know why they… I mean, I don't think Walter would…"

Paige laughed. "It's OK," she said. "I can't figure it out either."

A few minutes later they emerged from the trailer. Sylvester looked up. He could see she'd been crying and he wanted to run over and hug her, but decided better of it and stayed at his desk. "Everything… OK?" he asked as casually as he could.

Paige smiled. "Not really, but thanks for asking," she replied. "Ralph's on his way back from school," she added. "Would you mind taking him tonight, please? I… I kinda want to be alone."

"Sure," smiled Sylvester and Paige left with Cabe.

Just as Paige had said, Ralph arrived at the garage about twenty minutes later and Sylvester told him about the DNA results. Ralph showed little emotional reaction, but Sylvester could tell he had lots of questions. He figured the boy would talk when he was ready.

He was soon followed by Happy, Toby and Marnie back from Kovelsky's, with Cabe returning shortly afterwards. Marnie was desperate to know if Paige had spoken to Tim, forcing Cabe to lie and say she'd gone home sick and he didn't think she'd had the chance.

Seeing how disappointed she was, Ralph offered to show her his latest video game and she reluctantly agreed.

"Ralph, how long did Tim… my dad… work for Scorpion?" she asked when they sat down.

"Tim didn't work for Scorpion," Ralph corrected her in a pedantic tone. "He worked for Homeland _with_ Scorpion."

"Oh." She didn't really understand the difference. "So… why does Walter hate him so much?"

Ralph's eyes widened at her question. He had no idea how to answer it delicately. "Um… because Walter doesn't like people like Tim," he replied.

It didn't sound as tactful as he'd hoped.

"Y'know, people who aren't geniuses," he clarified.

"But your mom... and Agent Gallo," began Marnie. "They're not geniuses are they?"

"No... um... it's complicated," said Ralph dismissively.

"Is my dad... nice?"

"Yeah," replied Ralph, trying to sound convincing.

If he was perfectly honest there was nothing really wrong with Tim as far as could tell – he wasn't _not_ nice - he was just so different to the geniuses that Ralph had no connection with him… other than the fact Tim was dating his mother, of course, but if he thought about that too much it just made him angry.

And sad.

"I didn't really know my Dad," said Ralph, hoping to help Marnie realise that she didn't need Tim in her life. "He left when I was little and it was just me and Mom until we met Walter. Drew - that's my Dad – came back last year, but he's not like a real dad. Scorpion is my family."

"I guess we're family now too," said Marnie. "Your Mom and my Dad are together, so..."

"Um, I guess," Ralph replied hesitantly.

 _But not for much longer, I hope..._

"Paige isn't sick, is she," stated Happy when she was satisfied Ralph and Marnie were out of earshot.

Cabe sighed. "Nope," he said. "At least, not in the way I meant. Tim really upset her this time." He proceeded to tell them about his former trainee's reaction to the news that Marnie was his daughter.

"Bastard," hissed Happy in disgust. "She's his kid and she needs him. Her mom's a mess and she lives in a crappy group home, how can he just abandon her?"

"Lovebug," began Toby, gently. "Technically he hasn't abandoned her and if I wasn't so afraid of you giving me a black eye I might even suggest you're projecting your own feelings about your childhood experiences onto Marnie. The care system has changed a lot since you were a kid and it seems to me like she's doing OK. She only lives in the group home for a few weeks at a time when her mom gets sick and she has her mom's friend looking out for her too."

Happy scowled at him. He was probably right, she conceded. The thought of any child having to grow up the way she did always triggered the anger she tried so hard to keep buried, but she had to admit that Marnie didn't seem to be desperately unhappy the way she used to be.

"Where's Walt anyway?" she asked, realising he wasn't there and desperate to clear her head.

"Loft," replied Sylvester. "Has been the whole time."

Toby ran over to the foot of the stairs. "Hey, One Ninety Seven!" he yelled. "You can come out of hiding now, it's safe!"

Walter appeared at the top of the stairs. "I don't know what you mean," he insisted. "I've been busy."

"Busy avoiding Paige," offered Toby.

"I assume she spoke to Timothy?" asked Walter, ignoring Toby's gibe as he descended the stairs.

"Yeah," nodded Cabe. "And Tim's having a hard time taking it all in," he added diplomatically.

"Shirking his responsibilities," retorted Walter, rolling his eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Then suddenly there was a loud beeping sound from Sylvester's computer. "My trace program!" he exclaimed and spun round to head back to his desk. "I left it tracking the… oh my…"

"What?" asked Cabe as he, Happy, Toby and Walter all followed their younger colleague.

"The naval base in West Palm Beach. We've already tracked the digital signature back to the Navy, but now we know the exact location," he explained.

"That's where Tim was based fifteen years ago when he was being a very naughty boy with Marnie's mom," noted Toby.

"Coincidence?" offered Happy.

Cabe shook his head. "Unlikely. I suggest we head to Florida and shake a few feathers, we can take Marnie home at the same time. She gave her statement to Homeland yesterday, she's definitely not a suspect so as long as she's still under our protection she's free to travel with us. I'll book us some flights for the morning."

"Sorry, Cabe, but you're grounded," said Toby. "Way too soon after your surgery."

"What?" exclaimed Cabe. "No way, Doc, I'm fine! I'm not leaving you guys to chase down these hackers without me. If these guys really are Navy personnel you can't take them on without me."

"You'll have to assist from here," said Walter. "I suggest Sly stays behind too," he added much to Sylvester's relief. "You'll be more effective here. I'll go with Happy, Toby and… and Paige."

"Double date," grinned Toby.

"A business trip," Walter corrected him.

A short while later Happy, Toby and Marnie had already gone home and Cabe had left too. He wanted to call Paige without any risk of eavesdropping. He had to tell her about their travel plans, but he also wanted to check she was OK.

Sylvester gathered up his bag and grinned at Ralph. "I have a great movie for us to watch tonight," he said. "We can make popcorn and…"

"Whatever," Ralph interrupted him and Sylvester's face fell.

He loved having Ralph to stay, it gave him a chance to live the childhood he'd always dreamed about, but never had the chance to experience himself. He hadn't been much older than Ralph when he ran away from home and spent weeks hiding in a motel contemplating whether life was all worth it. Sylvester sighed, he wouldn't wish those kind of dark thoughts on any teenager. Leaving Ralph engrossed in playing a game on his phone, he went to find Walter.

"Hey," he said when he found the older genius making himself a sandwich. "What's up with Ralph? He's not been himself for days."

"I know," answered Walter. "Paige asked me to talk to him the other day, but I… well, I misunderstood her intent. Toby suggested I make another attempt."

"You should," replied Sylvester, nodding emphatically. "He listens to you. I hate seeing him like this."

Walter put down his sandwich. "You can eat that," he said and he headed over towards Ralph.

Sylvester decided to pass on the sandwich.

"Hey, buddy," said Walter in the chirpiest voice he could muster. He sat down next to Ralph on the couch. "Everything OK? I'm sorry I've been so busy lately. I don't know if I really thanked you for your help the other day when we were being hacked."

"You did," replied Ralph without looking up from his game.

"Oh… oh, well I want to thank you again," said Walter.

He paused to watch Ralph for a moment. He remembered being the same age and getting lost in a video game… or more likely hacking into somewhere he shouldn't, but the thrill was the same. He also remembered why he did it – to escape from the real world and he knew Ralph was doing exactly the same thing right now.

Walter desperately tried to think of something neutral to say, just to make conversation. "It's good to have Cabe back, isn't it," he said eventually.

"Uh… huh…" replied Ralph.

"Ralph, please… please can you turn that off for a moment?" asked Walter. He couldn't let this go on any longer. "I really want to talk to you."

"You do?" Ralph sounded surprised as he put down his phone. "About the case? Do you need my help again?"

"Um… well, n…n…not right now," Walter answered and he saw disappointment etched across the young genius' face. "But I'm sure I will when we're in Florida," he added quickly. "No, it's not really a work related conversation that I was hoping for. I… I want to make sure you're OK. I'm worried about you, Ralph."

"Why?"

"Why? Well, because I care about you and… and things are a little difficult around here at the moment and I wanted you to know that, whatever happens I'm still here for you if you need anything from me. Advice, or… or anything."

A smile danced at the corners of Ralph's lips. "Thanks, Walter," he said.

"So… are you having difficulties at school?"

Ralph shrugged.

"Problem with your college classes?" probed Walter.

Another shrug.

"Girl trouble?"

Ralph blushed hard. "Walter!"

"Sorry."

"It's just… it's just Mom, I guess," said Ralph with a sigh. "When Tim was here she was happy and now she's sad."

Walter let out a slow breath. He knew Ralph's very simplistic summing up was wildly inaccurate, but he could understand how Ralph might perceive the situation in that way. "Would you prefer it if Tim were to return?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"No!" exclaimed Ralph. "Well… I don't know. He was OK I guess and like I said, he made her happy, but… but he was kinda dumb."

Walter couldn't help but chuckle. "I concur with you on that point," he said.

Ralph laughed too. "She deserves better than him," he continued. Then he paused to consider his next words. He had so much he wanted to say, so many questions, but he didn't really know where to start. "Can I ask you something?" he began, gingerly.

"Sure. Anything."

"Now he's gone, why can't you and my Mom get together?"

Walter gasped. The question was so blunt, so simple, yet he couldn't immediately form an answer. "I… I… because… well, it's complicated," he spluttered. "For one thing, Timothy and your mother are still in a relationship, even though he's in Qatar."

"It won't last," replied Ralph, casually. "It's just her pride stopping her from breaking up with him."

"Are… are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

Walter was silent. He knew Tim had acted like a total jerk over Marnie, but he assumed Paige's anger towards her boyfriend was only temporary. However, if what Ralph had just said was true… but what did a child know about adult relationships?

 _Maybe more than I do…_

"Y'know, Walter," continued Ralph. "You tell me to be proud of who I am, you tell me to stand up for what I believe in, so… so why don't you do the same?"

"What? I… I do and it seems to get me into trouble on occasion, but…"

"You didn't stand up for yourself when Tim was here."

Walter swallowed hard. "I don't understand?"

"Yes you do!" exclaimed Ralph. "You let him walk all over you!"

Ralph's bottom lip started to quiver and Walter instinctively reached out to touch his arm. "Ralph, I tried… I just couldn't stop him. I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

Ralph sighed. "I know," he whispered under his breath. "I'm sorry, I know it wasn't all your fault."

"Hey, it's OK," insisted Walter. "I probably deserved that, but Ralph, you have to believe me, whatever happens… has already happened… or may happen in the future between your mother and I, you know I'm always here for you. Always."

"The… the future?" Ralph's eyes lit up. Walter was talking about a future with his mom. Maybe they could be a family after all?

"Yes… whatever happens," confirmed Walter. "But…" he hesitated, not wanting to get the boy's hopes up too much. "I have no idea what's going to happen."

Ralph nodded. "I guess I just assumed with Tim out of the picture that you and Mom…" he trailed off.

 _So did I…_

"Ralph, your Mom's going through a tough time," said Walter, blinking rapidly as he felt his eyes flush with tears. "And she needs your support. I think she needs to know that you're not shutting her out. Does that make sense?"

"I guess."

"So if you're upset with her, you should tell her."

"I don't think I'm upset with her," replied Ralph.

"Just with me then?"

Ralph laughed. "No, I guess I'm just confused."

"That makes two of us."

"A couple of confused geniuses," said Ralph with another chuckle.

"We _are_ very alike," agreed Walter with a grin. "So… will you promise me you'll have a good time at Sly's this evening?"

"I promise."

"And promise me you'll come to me if you're worried, or confused about anything?"

"I promise."

"Because you don't have to suffer alone like I did," said Walter. "I had Megan, but she couldn't truly understand what it was like to be me. You have me and I _do_ understand. I'll always understand you, Ralph."

Without warning Ralph flung his arms around Walter, almost knocking him backwards. Once Walter had regained his senses, he held him tightly, his heart almost bursting with pride when he thought about how much progress Ralph had made in the two and a half years since he'd come into his life. The nine- year old Ralph he'd first met could barely bring himself to interact with anyone, either physically or verbally, but now here they were locked in a warm embrace.

"I'm glad we had this talk, Walter," Ralph said, eventually breaking away.

"So am I, Ralph." The words almost caught in the back of his throat, as emotion threatened to overwhelm him. "So am I."

 _To be continued..._


	7. Chapter 7 - Decision

**-Cabe has some news about the case as the team prepare to leave for Florida, but Paige is struggling to come to a big decision.-**

 ** _I know some of you might wonder why Paige is still with Tim through all this, but my intention has always been for this story to fit in with the established canon and I'm sticking with it. We already know what happens by the end of Season 3 anyway. :)_**

 ** _I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you for all your reviews so far, I really appreciate all feedback._**

 **CHAPTER** **7.**

"Hi, Tim."

Toby immediately put down both of the medical textbooks he was reading at the sound of Sylvester's chirpy greeting. "Why is Sly Skyping Tim?" he asked, spinning round in his chair to address Walter.

"I asked Sly to make contact with Timothy," explained Walter. "To determine whether he was compromised during the execution of the cyber attack."

Sylvester covered the microphone on his headset with his right hand and put his left thumb over the lens of his webcam. "And I would like it noted in the record that I'm very uncomfortable with this," he hissed, glaring at Walter.

"Noted," replied Walter, haughtily. "But we need remote access to his devices in order to scan for surreptitious activity and it would be... inadvisable for me to engage with... with... with _him_ at this time."

"Agreed," nodded Toby. "But you could've just hacked into his accounts, couldn't you? He'd never have known."

"Yes, yes we could've done that," agreed Walter. "But... but..."

"Oh I get it!" exclaimed Toby, leaping to his feet. "You're taking the moral high ground! He's being a lowlife scumbag over Marnie so you're doing everything by the book to prove that you're the better man!"

"I... I don't know what you mean," insisted Walter. "I'm not concerned with such trivialities. When will Happy and Marnie be back?" he asked. "We have a flight to catch."

"And now we witness the Great O'Brien Subject Change in action," said Toby, rolling his eyes. "OK, OK, I'll drop it... for now. My beautiful wife-to-be and our current ward are at Kovelsky's buying bagels for the journey. They won't be long. And you didn't ask, but Paige texted five minutes ago, she's making a detour on the way, but she won't be long."

Walter nodded and walked off, leaving Toby to enjoy the sight of Sylvester squirming in his seat as he made small talk with Tim, desperately trying to avoid any mention of Paige, Walter and especially Marnie.

It wasn't long before Happy and Marnie returned armed with delicious smelling supplies. Toby persuaded Marnie to call her mum's friend, Lydia, to tell her about Tim and to let her know their travel plans and Lydia arranged to meet them at the airport. Marnie seemed quiet after the phone call.

"You OK?" asked Happy, sitting beside her. "Not looking forward to going home? Y'know, I could ask Cabe to pull some strings, get you moved to a better place for a while until your Mom gets outta the hospital?"

"You don't need to do that," answered the girl. "The group home's OK, really it is. They're nice people, you don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself."

Happy couldn't help but smile. "I know you can," she agreed. "So what is it?" she pushed.

Marnie sighed. "Lydia said my Mom's in a bad way, worse than she's seen her in a long time," she began. "And that sucks and I guess still not getting to meet my Dad yet sucks more. I get what Toby said about him working in Qatar, but it still sucks."

Happy and Toby had been forced to deflect Marnie's questions the previous evening and being eight thousand miles away seemed as good an excuse as any for why Tim couldn't come back to meet his daughter. Marnie had seemed satisfied with the explanation anyway and while they both felt bad about deceiving her they'd promised Paige they wouldn't tell her what the ex-Navy SEAL's true reaction had been to the news of her existence.

Just then Paige's car pulled into the garage. She got out, opened the back door and lifted her overnight bag from the seat.

"Sorry I'm late," she said looking flustered. "I went to the school to see Ralph before class. Thank you for looking after him last night, Sly," she added, smiling at Sylvester. "And you're sure you're OK for him to stay again tonight? If I'd known we were going away I wouldn't have left him with you last night."

"You needed to be alone, I understand," replied Sylvester. "Besides, it's my pleasure, he's no trouble."

Paige smiled gratefully and walked over to Walter. "Um, Ralph told me you had a little talk with him yesterday," she said. "He didn't tell me what it was about so I guess it was genius stuff, but whatever you said it worked because he seems a lot happier this morning. Thank you, Walter."

"Glad I could help," replied Walter.

She looked exhausted, he thought to himself. She was still beautiful though, even with dark circles under her eyes. She was always beautiful. He wanted her so badly, he loved her so much… why was she with another man?

 _Why...? How did I get it all so badly wrong…?_

Before Walter got completely lost in his thoughts Cabe strode into the garage.

"Listen up!" he called out authoritatively and everyone quickly gathered around him. "There's been a development." Then he realised Marnie was standing with Happy and he hesitated. "Um, hey, I'd love a coffee, kiddo," he said, nodding towards the coffee machine.

Marnie folded her arms across her chest defiantly. "I'm not dumb, Agent Gallo," she said. "You just want me out of the way. So I guess this is about my dad, right?"

"No, actually it isn't, young lady," insisted Cabe, frowning at her insolence. "But it's nothing for you to worry about. So, I'd love a coffee. Please."

Marnie scowled and stormed off.

"Nice, Cabe," noted Toby, as he perched on the corner of the table and folded his arms across his chest.

"I didn't mean to upset her," replied Cabe, lowering his voice. "But she doesn't need to hear what I've got to say. I just got off the phone with the Black Hawk County Sheriff's office. They found a truck late last night just outside of Cedar Falls. It had flipped over and rolled down an embankment. Driver was still at the wheel, confirmed deceased. Truck matches the description Marnie gave of the one she hitched a ride in. Y'know, the guy who supposedly got lost."

"The one we believe planted the device in Marnie's bag?" asked Paige and Cabe nodded.

"And you figure it wasn't an accident," said Toby.

"Oh, it was no accident, Doc," confirmed Cabe. "Guy had a bullet in his skull." Cabe demonstrated by jabbing his forefinger between Sylvester's eyebrows.

Sylvester yelped.

"Sniper?" offered Walter with concern.

"Sure looks that way," agreed Cabe and Sylvester shuddered.

"So our hackers are eliminating witnesses," said Happy seriously. She glanced over towards the coffee machine where Marnie was deliberately taking her time to pour Cabe's coffee.

"I think we should cancel your trip," said Cabe. "We're dealing with dangerous people and I can't be there to protect you. Damn punctured aorta."

"No," insisted Walter. "I won't be thwarted by terrorists."

"Way to get us all killed, One Ninety Seven," said Toby, dryly. "But I _would_ just like to take a moment to admire your use of the word ' _thwarted_ '."

"Shut it, Doc!" said Happy with a scowl. She took a deep breath. "Look, I'm with Walt. I'm not going to sit here and hide when we could be out there hunting down whoever did this to us. Homeland have come up blank so far so it looks like it's down to us. And, as much as it's been no trouble having Marnie to stay, I'd rather not have to share my apartment with a teenager forever. She needs to go home."

Toby leaned over and surprised her with a kiss.

"What the hell was that for?" she asked.

"Because you're gonna be the most amazing Mom to our kids," he said with a smile. "All six of 'em."

"Six!"

"Maybe seven?"

"Sorry to break up your procreation discussion," said Walter, as he headed back over to his desk to gather up his things. "But we need to get to the airport."

The team collected their bags and equipment while Cabe sipped the coffee Marnie had made him. He knew he could find a way to prevent them going to Florida if he tried hard enough, but Happy was right, sitting around doing nothing would drive then all crazy. He knew he had to let them go, he just hoped Walter wouldn't take any stupid risks. Usually he'd trust Paige to keep him in check, but the way things were at the moment he knew he couldn't rely on that happening and that scared him.

Toby made sure his medical bag was fully stocked for the trip – just in case – and then wondered over to Paige's desk where she was rummaging through her desk drawer.

"Lost something?" he asked.

"Laptop charger," she replied. She sat back in her chair and sighed. "I guess Walter'll have a spare."

Toby nodded. "You look like hell this morning," he noted.

"Gee, thanks," she said, sarcastically. "You really know how to make a girl feel special."

"That was a diagnosis not a put down," he replied. "I guess you didn't sleep much last night."

"Nope."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Nope."

"And that's the _wrong_ answer!" he said, pulling up a chair and sitting himself down beside her.

Paige sighed, she knew he wouldn't let this one go. The truth was she actually wanted his opinion on something, but she'd planned on waiting until they were in Florida. It seemed her plans had changed.

"OK, OK..." she began not quite sure where to start.

She'd had no more than three hours of broken sleep and her head was spinning.

"So, um… I guess every time I closed my eyes I heard his voice," she continued, relaxing just a little as she started to voice her thoughts. "Those things he said about Marnie and her Mom... the things he said about me. I can't be with a man who doesn't want anything to do with his own child, Toby. I can't. Not after Drew, not after everything I've been through. I just lay there in bed trying to find the courage to call him and tell him to go to hell. I ran through a million different ways in my head to say it, but then... then..." she paused and picked up her phone. "Then this came through."

She opened her emails, scrolled a little way down the screen and handed her phone to Toby.

"I want you to read that and tell me if he really means what he says," she asked him. "But you have to promise me this stays between us. Promise me, Toby."

Toby was about to make a smart remark when he saw how serious Paige's expression was. "I promise," he said, earnestly. Then he began to read the email. " _My darling Paige. I'm so sorry, I hate myself for the things I said to you..._ blah blah blah... _I love you..._ blah blah blah... _I'm not proud of what I did..._ oh, this is interesting..."

"What?" Paige interrupted. "Is he being sincere?"

"The part about how he's changed in the last fifteen years? I particularly like that part… _I used to be an asshole…_ "

"Yes, that!"

"Hmmm..." Toby pondered. "Well, he's told you he loves you five times, said sorry six times and he's used the word 'regrets' three times. Now, Tim is kinda old fashioned and he's ex-military - like Cabe, but with more hair. Guys like him don't spill out their emotions easily. I'd say he means every word... on the other hand he might be better at emotional manipulation than I thought."

"That's not helpful, Toby!" exclaimed Paige. "Which is it?"

Toby just shrugged. "Writing can be interpreted in so many different ways," he began, but at Paige's distressed look he scanned through the email again. "OK, here's something, it's littered with typos which suggests he wrote it in a hurry."

Paige's brow furrowed. "And what does that mean?" she asked.

"One of two things," Toby answered. "Either the words just tumbled out because they're true and he means everything he says, or..."

"Or...?"

"Or his typing skills are up there with my darling fiancée's cooking skills."

"Toby! I need to know!"

"And I wish I could give you a straight answer," replied Toby. "Y'know, if I talked to him myself…"

"No!" exclaimed Paige. "No way!"

"Then _you_ call him and let me have eyes and ears on the conversation."

"No... no, I can't," she said. "I can't talk to him, not now, I need to think first."

Even the thought of seeing his face on a grainy video screen made her stomach churn. Hearing his voice would be too much, hearing him begging for her forgiveness and understanding... hearing him say those three little words... knowing she couldn't honestly say them back to him...

"You need to make a decision, Paige. I can't make it for you."

"I know, but..." Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.

She looked at him with sad eyes. Sad, exhausted eyes. Toby could see the turmoil she was going through and he wished he could help her, but he could only advise her. He knew he couldn't force her into making a choice because she'd end up resenting him for it.

"If you're afraid your feelings for Walter will..."

"I don't have those feelings for Walter anymore, Toby. You know that!"

"I do?"

Paige let out an exasperated sigh. "Why has this always got to come back to Walter?" she asked. Her eyes pleaded for an explanation.

"Hey, hey," said Toby soothingly. "OK. Like I said the other day, you're trying cope with too much at once. Let's put your feelings for Walter to one side for now and deal with Timmy Boy."

Toby let out a long, slow sigh as his genius mind worked overtime. Paige was a master of self control when she wanted to be, but when she lost that control she lost it in a big way. The last thing Toby wanted to see was for her explosive temper to come to the fore and for her to blow any chance she might have - no matter how slim – of one day being with Walter.

Watching his two friends screw things up for the last couple of years had been desperately frustrating. He knew he couldn't interfere, as much as he wanted to – and he was well aware that he'd overstepped the mark on more than one occasion - because it just wasn't fair on either of them. They'd just have to figure it all out for themselves one day.

Somehow.

Then suddenly Paige appeared to gather her strength. "Right, this is what I'm going to do," she said. "This isn't as bad as it sounds… but I'm going to do nothing."

"Great," Toby responded, rolling his eyes. "Well I guess that ends our session, Miss Dineen. I'll send you my bill."

"Toby, hear me out, please," she begged. "The reason I didn't end things with Tim last night is because I'm not the kind of person who ends a relationship by text, or email."

"And he's not the type of person who feels nothing for his own daughter... oh, wait a minute..."

"Toby!" Paige scolded. "I just... I need to talk to him face to face. I have to be sure. People can change, fifteen years is a long time. Maybe I'll fly out to Qatar as soon as this hacking case is solved, but until then I have to trust that he'll figure it all out. I owe him that much."

"Do you?"

Paige scowled, then without giving him an answer she strode off purposely towards the monitor tree.

"Where's Marnie?" she asked as Cabe, Sylvester, Walter and Happy all looked up at her with puzzled expressions.

"Bathroom," replied Happy, crossing the garage with Sylvester close behind her as she spoke.

"Good, because I have something to say to you. All of you," said Paige. "Walter, I need you to listen to this too."

Walter walked over to join the assembled group. For reasons he couldn't explain he broke into a light sweat.

"Paige," began Toby. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Absolutely certain," she answered. She looked at her friends. Her family. Everyone she cared about was here apart from Ralph and her son didn't need to hear this, but she would talk to him too as soon as she could.

And then there was Tim, of course. She still cared for Tim, despite everything - that was the problem.

"OK," she continued. "As you all know – because there's no privacy around here – Tim and I are going through a tough time right now. He's just discovered he has a daughter he knew nothing about and it's not easy for him."

"Poor Timmy," muttered Happy sarcastically.

Paige glared at her, before continuing. "I appreciate that you're all worried about me, but... but for now I'm OK. Tim and I are going to try to work things out."

Walter had to sit down before his legs completely buckled beneath him. When Paige had started to speak he'd assumed she was going to announce that her relationship with Tim had finally ended. He had been ready to support her – as a friend – but he couldn't support this. How could he support her if she stayed with a man who treated her the way Timothy did?

"And if it doesn't work out," Paige continued. "Then you guys will be the first to know. I know this may be difficult for you to understand, especially those of you with low EQ..." She paused, glancing from Walter to Happy, then back to Walter before continuing. "But even if you can't support me on this, I'm asking you to respect my choices. Please."

There was a moment of silence. Toby considered jumping in with a smart-alec comment, but then he thought better of it. He had a huge amount of respect for Paige and right now he couldn't be more proud of her strength, even though he disagreed with her decision.

Even though he could see her heart shattering into pieces.

The sooner she ended things with Tim the better, but she was desperately clinging onto the tatters of their relationship because she was scared, he realised, of being free to pursue a relationship with… someone else.

Toby knew a relationship between Paige and Walter wouldn't be easy, but he trusted that they could make it work. If only they weren't both so goddamn stubborn.

"That's all," said Paige, finally. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. We have a mission to track down the source of the cyber-attack and I really want to keep Marnie safe and help her get her life sorted out, so let's go to Florida and do both of those things. Agreed?"

Nothing.

"Agreed?" Paige was more assertive this time.

Without saying a word Cabe walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. "You're gonna miss your flight if you don't shake a tail feather," he said. "I'll take your bag to the car."

Marnie reappeared and Sylvester smiled at her. "For a moment I thought you'd locked yourself in the bathroom," he said.

She shot him a puzzled look.

"Only because that's what I do to avoid flying in commercial planes," he explained and Marnie laughed and followed him to Cabe's car.

"C'mon, Sugarplum," said Toby. "First one to the Cabe-mobile gets the front seat!"

Walter still hadn't said a word. He sat and stared straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to the activity around him.

"Walter?" said Paige when the others were on the other side of the garage. "We have to go."

Walter nodded, but didn't move otherwise.

"Walter," repeated Paige. "Look, I know what you think about Tim – you've made your feelings quite clear – but this is something I have to do. But please, Walter, I still want us to be friends. Please."

She hadn't meant to beg, but she was desperate. The thought of losing Walter as a friend broke her heart. She needed him in her life. She needed him for Ralph, but she needed him for _her_ too. She couldn't let him go, she couldn't.

"Friends," said Walter.

His response so was devoid of emotion that for a moment Paige thought he was angry with her and she felt a wave of panic. She desperately wanted his support, she couldn't do this without him. She wasn't stupid, she knew her and Tim were unravelling and she was starting to prepare herself for the inevitable, but she couldn't bear to lose Walter too.

Then Walter got to his feet and smiled at her. "I… I admit that I'm… I'm confused by your decision," he began. "But I do respect it and… and I respect you, Paige."

 _I love you…_

"I'll always be your friend," he added. "If… if you'll have me."

Paige stepped forward and threw her arms around him, hoping he wouldn't notice the tears in her eyes. "Always," she whispered in his ear.

She looked up and spotted Toby watching them from across the garage.

 _Damn…_

 ** _To be continued..._**


	8. Chapter 8 - A Bitter Pill

**-In Florida, Toby finds a way to help Marnie, but uncovers a mystery in the process. Meanwhile Paige orchestrates some alone time with Walter.-**

 _ **I really hope you enjoy this chapter. If you like angsty Waige then I think you will! Thank you to everyone who is still reading and reviewing this story. I don't think any of us enjoyed the ongoing Tim saga and while I'm writing this story to stay true to canon, my intention is to fill in some of the unexplained gaps we were left with and hopefully show Tim in his true light in the process! Your reviews keep me going. :)**_

 **CHAPTER 8**

"Well that wasn't awkward at all."

Happy sniggered at Toby's words as they strode across the airport arrivals lounge. "Hey, you're the one who decided to sit between O'Brien and the waitress on a four and a half hour flight," she pointed out.

"Not my choice," Toby insisted. "You and Marnie bagged the two seat block! Still, from a professional perspective it was fascinating, even though it felt weirdly…"

"Voyeuristic?" offered Happy, stifling another snigger.

Toby shrugged. "Something like that."

Lydia was waiting for them and she waved as soon as she saw Marnie. She was wearing a catering uniform with a logo embroidered onto the pocket of her shirt and had clearly come straight from work. Marnie hugged her tightly before introducing her to Walter, Paige, Toby and Happy.

"Thank you for looking after her," said Lydia. "She will keep taking off on these solo adventures. I guess it's tough for her with Sara in the hospital."

"Sara, that's Marnie's mother, correct?" Walter asked.

Lydia nodded. "She's been worried about you, sweetheart," she said to Marnie. "In her own way and you know Gary and I worry about you."

"Not enough to sound the alert when she's missing for eight days," Happy pointed out, taking a step closer to the woman.

She didn't like the casual way Lydia was treating what Marnie had done. She was fifteen and she'd hitch-hiked her way across the entire country on her own. Happy was no expert when it came to parenting, but she was pretty sure that wasn't OK.

Toby immediately put a steadying hand on Happy's arm. "Lovebug, not the time," he said in a low voice.

"No, no, you're right," agreed Lydia. "Maybe we should take it more seriously when she disappears like this, but we're so used to it and she always comes home safely eventually."

"I can take care of myself!" insisted Marnie.

"So you keep saying," replied Happy.

"Why don't we all calm down?" suggested Paige, raising her eyebrows in Happy's direction. "I think this is a discussion for Lydia and Marnie to have in private, not in the middle of an airport, don't you?"

"Agreed," said Walter, before Happy could object. "We have an appointment with Commander Perry at the naval base in an hour and a half."

"And I want to go see my Mom," said Marnie. "I want to tell her all about Tim."

Walter visibly shuddered at the mention of Tim's name. For the last few hours he'd almost been able to forget about him and about everything that had happened… and was still happening… as he'd chatted to Paige and Toby – mostly to Paige – during the flight about a variety of subjects, none of which involved Tim. Now Marnie's enthusiasm had brought him back to reality.

Happy leaned over to Toby. "Sly's damn right about the effect of the T-Word," she whispered in his ear and Toby nodded.

"Um, sweetheart," began Lydia. "I don't know if your Mom's up to talking about the past right now," she said. "She's... she's not doing so good. It's not easy to see her like this. Maybe you should wait until she's having a better day?"

Marnie pressed her lips together and nodded. "I still want to see her," she said in a quiet voice. "I can handle it."

"One of us should stay with Marnie," said Walter as they set off across the concourse. At Lydia's puzzled look he explained. "There's still a possibility that whoever planted the device used to gain access to our systems may return."

"I'll go with Marnie," Toby offered. "Maybe there's something I can do to help your Mom?" he added, smiling at Marnie. The girl nodded gratefully.

"I'll go with Toby," added Happy. "You and Paige can handle the meeting without us, boss."

Lydia waited until Marnie had walked a little way ahead with Happy before turning to Walter. "Is Marnie in danger?" she asked with a concerned expression.

"We hope not," replied Paige quickly, anticipating a blunt response from Walter. The last thing they wanted was to frighten Lydia, or Marnie. They'd already agreed to keep the news about the murdered truck driver to themselves for now.

Walter nodded. "We just want to make sure she's safe," he explained. "She's the only witness we have."

Paige nodded. "And she's family now, Scorpion is a family," she added with a warm smile.

Walter swallowed down the bile that rose in his throat. He had nothing against Marnie - he felt nothing but pity for her family circumstances - but that didn't make her _his_ family. Timothy Armstrong was not part of Scorpion, he was not and never would be part of _his_ family."

Happy drew a sharp breath and grabbed Paige by the arm, sharply pulling her back from the others. "What the hell?" she hissed. "Do you just enjoy twisting the knife?"

"Happy!" exclaimed Paige, stumbling to keep her balance. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about O'Brien," replied Happy, keeping her voice low. "Can't you see what all this BS about Tim is doing to him? Do you even care?"

"I… I…" stammered Paige. "Of course I care about Walter!"

"You've got a funny way of showing it sometimes," noted Happy.

Paige sighed. "If Walter has a problem with me then he can tell me himself, he doesn't need you to speak for him," she said, trying her best to keep her cool. The last thing she wanted was to fight with Happy and this had seemingly come out of nowhere.

"Just quit with the family crap," insisted Happy. "Scorpion is Walter's family, it's the only thing he has right now and he's barely holding it together."

"I'm sorry, I'm doing my best," Paige replied. "I know things are a mess right now, but I'm going to fix it. I understand how it might look to you, but…"

"Just remember, you hurt Walter you're hurting all of us," said Happy in a warning tone. "And you really don't want to do that."

Happy released her arm and Paige stood still for a moment, stunned by what she realised was a threat. She watched as Happy caught up with the rest of the group. She couldn't blame her, she really couldn't. "Oh god," she whispered to herself. "What have I done?"

xXxXxXxXxXx

Paige and Walter took a cab to the naval base, leaving Lydia to take Happy, Toby and Marnie to the hospital. She gave Marnie a hug and warned her again that her Mom was not in a good way, before apologetically leaving them to go back to work.

Marnie's mum, Sara, was in the small psychiatric unit housed in a separate building to the main hospital. They were greeted by a young doctor as they arrived. "Hey, Marnie!" he exclaimed. "It's good to see you."

"I'm sorry I haven't visited for a while, I've been away," explained Marnie. "How is she?" she asked, nervously.

The doctor glanced at the two unfamiliar faces and looked at Marnie questioningly.

"Oh, it's OK, these are my friends," Marnie explained. "Happy and Toby. Toby's a doctor, a psychiatrist like you."

"Tobias M. Curtis," Toby introduced himself, with his hand outstretched. "Harvard Medical School. You've probably heard of me. I suspect you studied my papers for your final thesis… which I'm guessing you submitted last week?"

Happy rolled her eyes as the young doctor looked blankly at him. "Actually I qualified over a year ago," he replied.

"Oh, a whole year!" exclaimed Toby sarcastically.

Happy dug him sharply in the ribs and he yelped.

"Doctor Ellis has been good to my Mom," insisted Marnie. "Everyone here does their best, I know she's real sick, but they're trying." She smiled at Dr Ellis and the young man seemed to appreciate her endorsement.

"I just wish I could do more for her right now," he admitted. "She's taken a downturn these last couple weeks. The psychosis has taken a real hold. Maybe you being back will help?" he suggested and Marnie nodded.

Dr Ellis led them along the corridor to Sara's room. Through the glass window they could see her sitting on the edge of her bed, her hands covering her face. The room was sparsely furnished, devoid of anything she could use to injure herself.

Happy realised it was normal for patients in Sara's condition and it was for her safety, but it looked so cold, so impersonal. She couldn't help but think she'd go crazy herself if she had to live in a place like this.

"She's been like that for days," explained the doctor. "She sits there, motionless, for hours and then we get a couple hours of screaming and violent outbursts. We're a small unit here, we don't have the facilities, or the resources, to assess her properly. All we can do is increase her meds…"

"Great, whack some more Valium into her!" exclaimed Toby. "That'll solve all her problems."

"Toby," said Happy, through gritted teeth. "This nice doctor is going to punch you in the mouth in a minute," she said. "And if he doesn't, I will." She nodded towards Marnie who had gone very quiet and was just staring at her mother through the window. "The kid is scared, even I can see that. Are you gonna help, or are you gonna have a hissy fit and traumatise Marnie even more?"

Toby closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down. Being here and seeing Sara reminded him so much of the times he'd spent with his mother in a very similar unit and it had brought back all the bad memories, all the frustration he'd felt at not being able to help her. He was a genius, he'd studied medicine and specialised in psychiatry for one reason – to help his Mom get better – and he'd failed.

Despite everything he knew, all his expertise, he'd failed. He wasn't going to fail again.

He turned to look through the tiny window into Sara's room and studied the woman for a moment. "Let me talk to her," he said.

Dr Ellis frowned. "I don't know if I can allow…"

"Let me talk to her!" repeated Toby. "You don't need fancy-pants facilities to assess her, you just need me and… oh look, here I am!"

Happy was poised, ready to intervene in the brewing argument, but the two men seemed reach an understanding.

Dr Ellis looked apologetically at Marnie. He'd got to know her quite well over the last few months and if there was anything he could do to help he wanted to try. He looked back to Toby. Something about the guy in the hat made him think he could be trusted.

"OK," he agreed. "My boss is out of town, so I guess I'm in charge. This is highly unorthodox though."

"Unorthodox is my middle name," grinned Toby.

Dr Ellis pulled a bunch of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. Immediately Sara leapt to her feet and let out a terrified scream. Seemingly unfazed, Toby walked slowly towards her. Dr Ellis followed him in and closed the door behind them.

Happy glanced at Marnie. She trusted her genius, soon-to-be husband's skills more than anyone, but she knew this wasn't going to be easy, even for him. "Hey, let's go wait outside," she suggested. She didn't want Marnie to have to witness the situation if things got messy.

Marnie nodded and followed Happy outside. The Florida sun streamed down on them as they sat on a bench in the garden. "I love it out here," noted Marnie. "This is where Mom told me all about Tim after we'd seen you guys on TV. It's funny, I never wanted to know anything about my dad, I've never even thought about what he might look like or anything, but when I saw him on TV he suddenly felt so real to me."

"He's real," confirmed Happy. _Turns out he's a jerk, but he's real…_

Just then Happy's phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket and checked the number. "Hey, Sly," she said.

"Hey," came Sylvester's voice over the phone. "Is Walter with you? He's not answering his cell."

"Nope, he's at the base, we're at the hospital with Marnie's Mom. I guess Walt and Paige had to surrender their phones for security reasons."

"Ah," agreed Sylvester. "OK, well then I guess you get to pass on the good news. Tim is our single point of failure. I've finished analysing the data I got from his laptop and his details _were_ used to gain access to our systems."

"What?" exclaimed Happy.

"Oh, I don't mean it was intentional," Sylvester clarified quickly. "I mean I found a trace that exploited a flaw in Facebook, the hackers got into his account and harvested whatever they needed. From there they could easily follow the trail back to us."

"So can we sue Zuckerberg?" asked Happy, rolling her eyes.

"Um, we have more pressing concerns," replied Sylvester. "The device Marnie carried was sophisticated technology, even the best hackers couldn't get into our systems via Facebook of all things. There's still a missing link."

"Walt's gonna love this," retorted Happy. "Thanks for the heads up, Sly. Let me know if you find anything else."

"Everything OK?" asked Marnie when Happy ended the call.

"Sure," lied Happy. "Just work stuff."

They talked for a while, mostly about growing up. Happy commented on how lucky Marnie was to have Lydia and her husband in her life. Marnie agreed, explaining that Lydia was like a second Mom to her. She also went to great lengths to point out to Happy that her Mom had been in control of her mental health for a long time and it was only in the last few weeks that things had deteriorated.

"She's been bad before," she explained, sadly. "But they usually figure something out in a week or so, change her meds or something and she's fine again. I've never seen her like this… that wasn't my Mom in that room, Happy."

"Let's see what Toby comes up with," said Happy, hoping her voice sounded reassuring enough.

Less than five minutes later, Dr Ellis walked around the corner. He had a huge smile on his face. "I think you should see this," he said and Happy and Marnie followed him back to Sara's room.

Toby was sitting on the edge of Sara's bed and the two of them were talking. If she didn't know otherwise, Happy would have thought it was just two people having a normal, calm conversation. Sara's eyes were bright, her face animated as she spoke, in stark contrast to the woman she'd seen barely an hour ago.

Dr Ellis turned to Happy as they watched the heart-warming scene. "That guy really knows what he's doing," he said.

Happy smiled proudly. "That guy is the man I'm gonna marry."

Toby looked up and beckoned to Marnie to come in. Without hesitation Marnie entered the room and Sara got to her feet to hug her daughter.

Toby touched both of their shoulders tenderly and walked away to give them some privacy. He let out a slow breath as he headed out to the corridor. It had taken every bit of his training and skill to get through to Sara, but at least he now knew why her current health situation was so bad.

He found Dr Ellis and Happy standing outside Sara's room. "You're gonna want to run some blood tests, to confirm this – even though I know I'm right," he began. "But that poor woman is virtually un-medicated."

"What?" exclaimed Dr Ellis. "No, she's on a whole suite of drugs. The usual anti-psychotics, mood stabilisers, sedatives…"

"Oh, you might think she is," replied Toby. "But I'm telling you, what you've been witnessing for the last few weeks is pure, raw mental illness. She's been suffering through a spiral of hallucinations, paranoia, depression, all the fun stuff and she's had zero medical intervention."

"But… but I'll show you her drug charts."

"I don't doubt what's on her charts," replied Toby. "But for reasons yet to be determined, those drugs have never entered her system. We've just had a good, long talk and not all of it makes sense yet, but if I'm right - which I always am - I'd say we were looking at sabotage."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Three missed calls from Sly." Walter stared at the screen of his phone as he got into the cab. "No voicemail. Why does he never leave a voicemail? It would be far more efficient for him to leave a simple message explaining what he wanted to tell me instead of me having to waste time calling him back. Now I have no signal so it'll have to wait even longer."

"You know Sylvester doesn't trust voicemail, he's convinced the CIA are listening in to everyone – or aliens, or something," replied Paige as the cab pulled away from the naval base. "But don't take out your frustrations on Sly."

"I'm not frustrated," retorted Walter. "I'm angry. Just plain angry. What the hell was that Commander thinking? We had clearance from Homeland to speak to him and he… and he shut us down! I assume he has something to do with all of this. Toby should've been here, Toby could've told us immediately if he was lying. Instead he's wasting time with Marnie."

"He's not wasting time," replied Paige. "He's helping her. Stop blaming everyone else because the meeting didn't go as well as we'd hoped."

Walter let out a frustrated sigh. They were no closer to establishing who had hacked into their system, or why. He hated hitting brick walls and his mind starting working overtime as he considered all the possible ways they could find out the information they needed.

A few minutes later – or it could've been an hour, he had no idea - Paige's voice snapped Walter out of his thoughts.

"Driver, how far away are we?"

"Um, just a couple miles, ma'am," replied the cab driver.

"Can you drop us here, please?" asked Paige. "We'll pay the full fare."

"Sure, no problem."

"Paige, why are we getting out here?" asked Walter as the driver pulled over at the side of the road. He looked out of the window to see they were in a suburban area, with a mixture of housing types and a few local businesses.

"I figured we'd walk the rest of the way," explained Paige as she opened the car door. "The fresh air will help clear your head. Last thing I want is for you to be this wound up when we get back to Lydia's. I can't face another evening of you and Toby bickering and we haven't even met Lydia's husband yet."

She paid the driver and thanked him before turning back to Walter.

"So you're assuming I will upset our hosts?" offered Walter indignantly as the cab pulled away.

"I'm just doing some pre-emptive damage limitation," replied Paige. "This is my job, isn't it? I'm helping you cope emotionally with a normal dinner with normal people we've never met before. So you need to calm down. And anyway, I thought it would be nice to be alone for a while, so… so we can talk."

"T… t…. talk?" stammered Walter, suddenly feeling a rush of nerves. "About… about what?"

Paige sighed. "About us… our friendship. We agreed this morning before we left the garage that we're still friends, didn't we?"

"Yes, very much so." Walter had no idea where this conversation was going.

They started walking along the street. There were a few people around - walking dogs, washing cars, sweeping up leaves – but everyone was just going about their business and the normality of the scene gave Walter a strange sense of calm.

Paige smiled at him as they walked. "I miss this," she said. At his puzzled expression she explained. "Can't you feel it?"

He could feel a lot of things right now, but he was sure she wasn't referring to that.

"No tension," explained Paige. "There's been a lot of tension between you and me lately, Walter and I know it's probably my fault but…"

"No, it's my fault."

Paige shook her head. "Happy called me out on it earlier."

 _And so did Mark Collins…_

"I knew you and Tim didn't get along, I should have tried harder to keep my personal life private. I know you… you care about me, Walter and I know you were trying to protect me from getting hurt and I appreciate that, I really do, but I…"

"I was right, though, wasn't l… about Timothy. I was right."

Coming from anyone else it would've sounded arrogant, but not from Walter. Walter only stated facts and this was a fact. An irrefutable fact. Tim Armstrong had hurt her and Paige couldn't deny it. Everything had been so good between them before he left – before Walter drove him away – it had been so easy to be with Tim, but now she was uncovering more and more about her long-distance boyfriend and…

But she couldn't allow herself to think about any of that now. She'd made a deal with herself not to allow speculative, negative thoughts to drive her to despair until Tim was standing in front of her and they could talk face to face.

"Walter, I…" She wasn't sure what she was about to say, but Walter interrupted her anyway and whatever thoughts she had were gone.

"Do you… do you remember when we first agreed to stay friends?" he asked.

The colour drained from her face. Of course she remembered. She remembered every word, every sound, every thought that had raced through her head that day. She'd walked up to the loft to talk to him, expecting the conversation to go an entirely different way. She'd finally admitted her feelings to Walter – to herself – but then she inexplicably found herself suggesting a relationship with him would be wrong.

And he'd agreed. No fraternisation - that was the deal they'd struck. And everyone had overheard them thanks to the new intercom system. Everyone had heard… and yet they all _knew._

It wasn't what she wanted, but she'd felt powerless to stop it. He'd seemed so determined, so sure he didn't want to be with her and yet everything he'd said or done since then suggested totally the opposite. He loved her, he'd said so himself when he was in space.

So why had he pushed her away that day?

This wasn't about his EQ, it was about her. Paige knew it. She knew deep down there was something wrong with her and somehow Walter had seen it and decided the best way forward – the safest way – was to stay friends.

"Yes… yes, I remember," she mumbled an answer to his question. Did he really think she would forget?

Walter stopped walking and spun round to face her. "Did we make a mistake?" he asked.

He wasn't sure where this sudden courage had come from, maybe because for the first time in a long time they were alone? He couldn't explain it. Nothing but calm surrounded them and he was overwhelmed with the urge to be open with her. He had nothing to lose, it couldn't get any worse, could it?

Paige's mouth was dry. Why was he asking her about this now? A year and a half had passed and so much had happened since then. What did he want her to say?

They were standing inches apart, their eyes locked and she could feel her heart beating in her chest. She licked her parched lips, desperately trying to form words. Any words. Anything to break this moment – this wonderful moment – because if she didn't break it, then it might just break her.

Her eyes drifted closed and she could feel his breath on her moistened lips.

"Walter…" She waited, anticipating.

Wanting.

 _Kiss me… please…_

Nothing.

Her eyes snapped open, but Walter had turned away. "I… I'm sorry, I… I…" he mumbled.

"Hey, it's OK," said Paige, her concern for him instantly washing away all her other feelings at that moment. She tenderly touched his shoulder. "Walter?"

Walter cleared his throat. "I… I don't know what…"

Paige took a deep breath as reality stormed back into her head. "Feelings are confusing, aren't they," she said. "And… and the way things are between us, it's easy to… to confuse feelings…"

What was she saying? She was talking him out of it again, she could hear herself doing it and she wanted to stop, but she couldn't. This was the logical thing to do. He'd thank her for it one day. He deserved better than her. She was too much for him, too needy, too damaged. Everyone left her eventually, it was easier this way.

But oh god… it hurt.

 _To be continued…_


	9. Chapter 9 - Dinner Guests

**\- Paige discovers some shocking truths. -**

 _ **I'm sorry it's been a while since I posted the previous chapter - a busy couple of weeks has left me with precious little time to write. I hope this chapter has been worth the wait. Please leave a review if you can, I really appreciate all your feedback. Thank you kindly.**_

 **CHAPTER 9.**

"You're late."

Lydia was _not_ pleased. Her husband, Gary, did not look much happier at the reception he'd just received from her.

"Sorry, honey," he answered, sounding genuinely remorseful. He threw his rucksack onto a chair and strode across the apartment to greet his wife with a kiss. "I told you this morning I'd be late."

"Not this late," retorted Lydia, huffily turning her cheek to accept the kiss.

Toby and Paige exchanged an awkward glance. Lydia had appeared relaxed and comfortable throughout dinner. She seemed to have a strong relationship with Marnie and had talked with a sparkle in her eyes about helping to raise her best friend's daughter. However, now her husband had arrived, Lydia's demeanour had completely changed.

"Your pasta is on the stove," Lydia added abruptly. "We've all eaten already. You did remember we had guests tonight, didn't you?" She quickly introduced everyone sitting round the table.

"What was I supposed to do?" asked Gary with a shrug. He didn't seem too bothered by Lydia's manner, he was obviously used to it. "Tell Tony where he can stick his overtime? I've been off sick for months, I'm lucky I still _have_ a job, I gotta keep the boss sweet."

"Talking of sweet, your cheesecake was… was very sweet," said Walter, suddenly feeling particularly uncomfortable as the argument escalated. "Sweet in a good way," he clarified. "Not too sweet. It was delicious. In… in… in fact the whole meal was delicious. The pasta sauce was particularly exquisite."

Lydia blushed. "Wow, thank you, Walter," she replied. "I've never heard my sauce described as exquisite before."

"And… and this orange juice," he said, holding up his empty glass. "The best I've ever tasted."

"It's just from a carton," replied Lydia. "Not freshly squeezed."

"And the…"

"Enough, Walter," Paige interrupted him with a glare before he went completely over the top. "Lydia, can I help you with the dishes?"

"You don't have to…"

"I insist."

So Paige and Lydia began clearing away while Toby, Walter and Happy chatted with Marnie. Lydia and Gary's apartment was small and furnished with mismatched furniture. Gary was clearly not very tidy and almost every spare space was occupied with various items that were obviously his – magazines and collectibles mostly. Lydia's personal items – a few antique glass vases and china animals – were neatly displayed in a cabinet.

Gary ate his meal alone at the table with only a portable radio for company.

"I'm sorry about him," said Lydia, passing Paige a clean plate to dry. "Or, rather, I guess I'm sorry you had to witness that. He's been at home for over three months and we've just got on each other's nerves the whole time. I do love him, I do, but…" Lydia trailed off and sighed. "We don't have an easy time of it. We barely have enough to pay the bills and his health gets worse every day. He's thirty eight in the body of a man twice his age. It's… frustrating.

Paige smiled supportively, a little taken aback at Lydia's openness. "I imagine it must be," she said. "Marnie talked about both of you a lot," she added. "She loves you like family."

Lydia smiled. "Gary dotes on her," she said as she plunged another plate into the soapy water. "We've never had our own kids, but Marnie feels like mine. Don't get me wrong, Sara is a great mom, but she could never have raised a kid alone."

"Sara is lucky to have you," replied Paige. "I'm a single mom too," she explained. "I know how tough it is."

"I guess now you have Tim to help out, though, right?"

Paige couldn't answer her immediately. Tim had never 'helped out' with Ralph and she had never asked him to. The only thing she ever asked of each of them was that they learned to respect each other and she felt they had achieved that – to a certain extent – before Tim had left. Somehow it didn't feel like it mattered now anyway.

She realised Lydia was still waiting for an answer. "Oh, um… well, he's away," said mumbled. "These plates are nice," she added, somewhat unconvincingly, but she was desperate to steer the conversation away from Tim for a while. She had so many questions, but didn't know where to start and part of her didn't want to know the answers anyway.

At that moment Gary wandered into the kitchen and handed Lydia his empty plate before kissing her on the cheek.

"I _am_ sorry I was late home, y'know" he said in an apologetic tone.

Lydia nodded a silent acknowledgement and Gary, realising it was the best he was going to get from his wife, walked back over to join Marnie and the others.

"Still in the doghouse," he said with a shrug as he sat on the sofa next to Marnie. "Anyway, I should thank you guys for bringing Marnie home safe," he added, smiling at the girl. "She's hot-headed, like her mom."

Marnie grinned at him.

"So, where is it you work, Gary?" asked Happy. She wasn't usually one for small talk, but she'd noticed the grease smeared across his nose and was curious.

"Tractor factory," replied Gary. "Actually we produce all kinds of heavy machinery at the plant these days, but mostly tractors."

"Repetitive, heavy manual work," noted Toby. "No wonder you have so much trouble with your back."

Gary as a little taken aback. "How did you know?" he asked.

"You walk with a slight lean to the left," replied Toby. "And three of your vertebrae are out of alignment. My guess is spondylolisthesis, am I right? Of course I'm right."

"Huh?" responded Gary in surprise. "Yeah, that's what the doc called it. I've had surgery, but it still gives me trouble. Doesn't help that both my knees are shot and this dumb shoulder too," he added, rubbing his right shoulder. "And if it ain't my old injuries it's my gut playing up and I can't work for weeks, especially when my diabetes gets outta control too. I need an office job."

"You'd be bored in an office!" exclaimed Marnie. "You're an all action guy! Gary was in the Navy too," she explained.

"Hell, sweetheart, only for a year," replied Gary, looking a little embarrassed. "Had to leave when I smashed up my knee."

"Were you stationed at West Palm Beach too?" asked Walter, momentarily looking up from his laptop. He had been working on finding the source of the cyber-attack and not listening at all to the conversation, but his interest had been piqued by Gary's last comment. They needed a way into the base and he was hoping this man might be it. "Do you still have any contacts at the base? We're having some… some difficulty communicating with them at the moment."

"I was there," Gary confirmed. "But after I had to quit the training programme I left town for a few years so I pretty much lost touch with everyone. I wouldn't be living here now if I hadn't bumped into Lydia in a diner when I rolled back into town for a stopover. I was a truck driver for a while, y'see. I vaguely remembered her and Sara from back in the old days so we got talking and, well, I'm still here."

Happy fidgeted as the conversation continued. She was bored. Gary was boring. The whole evening had been boring. She wasn't used to being a dinner guest in someone else's home and she felt like they were wasting time when they had an important job to do. As Toby and Gary fell deep into a discussion about his injuries and illnesses and Walter turned his full attention back to whatever he was doing on his laptop, Happy noticed Marnie's eyes drooping shut. She wished sleep would take her too, but her brain remained stubbornly active.

She glanced over towards the kitchen where Paige and Lydia were still chatting and briefly considered joining them, but then she realised they were probably talking about Tim and she decided staying put was the least uncomfortable option.

Happy hadn't really had a negative opinion of Tim when he'd been working with Scorpion. As far as she was concerned he had been an asset to the team, willing to participate in their crazy plans and putting his life at risk to save others just as much as any of them. His courage and bravery had never been in doubt in her mind – they still weren't – but what had changed in the last few days was her opinion of his character. Her opinion of him as a man, as a human being.

Walter's behaviour when Tim was around had been… not good. She knew how Walter felt about Paige – everyone did - but as much as she cared for Walter, she had no interest in taking sides in what seemed to be a stupid love triangle between him, the Homeland trainee and the waitress so she'd stayed out of it. Now things were different. Now Tim's true colours were being revealed and Happy had been forced to re-evaluate her feelings and all she could think was that she wished Tim Armstrong had never walked into their lives.

In the kitchen, Paige and Lydia had finished with the dishes and everything had been put away. They'd talked a little about Lydia's jobs, all three of them - two cleaning jobs and a part-time retail position at a nearby mattress store – and about Sara and Marnie, but the whole time Paige's mind had been wandering… and she knew if she left without asking all the questions that were whirling round in her head she would regret it.

"So…um… tell me," she began. "Tell me what he was like when you knew him. Tim, I mean."

"He was… handsome," began Lydia with a smile, pulling out two stools for them to sit on. "And, boy, did he know it. Y'see, there was a group of maybe seven or eight of us girls and we'd go hang around the base because we… well, we wanted to flirt with the guys. God, it sounds so dumb now, but they were all so goddamn pretty in those Navy uniforms! Tim was the best looking, everyone wanted Tim. Those blue eyes… hmmm…"

Paige blushed. Tim had beautiful eyes… and that smile… he sure _was_ pretty, she couldn't deny it. Had that been the only reason she'd agreed to go on that first date with him though? Was she really that shallow?

"Anyway," continued Lydia. "We were just kids, but we weren't stupid," she continued. "We knew what we were doing, we knew what we wanted… and we got it. My first time was in the back of a car. Steve… Steve something-or-other. It was… it was _not_ how I imagined my first time would be, but… hey, it was my choice."

Paige was taken aback by Lydia's revelation. Her first time had been with Drew and, despite how that relationship had ended, it had begun graciously. Drew had shown so much promise at the start, he'd been kind to her, he'd shown her respect… but then again, so had Tim. Was history just repeating itself?

"You… you don't have to go into detail," she said. Lydia's tone had changed and her eyes were full of regret. Paige didn't know if she wanted to listen to the sordid particulars.

"It's OK, it was a long time ago," replied Lydia. "We were just having fun and most of the other guys were better than Steve, much better… oh Jesus, you must think I'm some kinda whore!"

"No… no…. not at all," replied Paige. The truth was she didn't really know what to think. Lydia hadn't really explained where Tim fitted into all of this, but Paige had a pretty good idea and she didn't want to know… but something compelled her to ask.

"What about… about Tim?"

"Tim had his eye on Sara from the start," she explained. "And Tim always got what he wanted. The other girls were all jealous as hell, but I was pleased for her. Sara deserved a break."

"So… Sara and Tim were in a proper relationship?" asked Paige. "I mean, not… not casual?"

Lydia laughed. "You mean she wasn't sleeping around like me and the other girls? No, no she wasn't," she confirmed. "But, um… it got messy and… and… turns out Tim wasn't the perfect boyfriend she thought he was."

Paige gulped at her words.

 _Tim wasn't who she thought he was…_

Her heart was racing now, it felt like she was watching a horror movie – it was scaring her to death and she wanted to turn it off, but she couldn't. She needed to know what happened. "I… I don't understand?"

Lydia glanced over her shoulder to make sure Gary and the others couldn't overhear before continuing. "Tim came to me one day," she began. "He thought Sara had slept with this other guy. She hadn't, I know she hadn't. She adored Tim and she would never have cheated on him, but he was convinced. I tried to tell him, I tried, but… but I don't know what happened next, I can't explain it. To this day I can't explain it, but… but we ended up in bed."

"You and Tim?" Paige was stunned. "He… he cheated on her?"

Lydia was fighting back tears. "Yes," she nodded. "Yes, he did. With me. With her best friend."

Despite the sickening feeling inside her, Paige felt compelled to comfort Lydia and she reached out, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"And Sara found out?"

Lydia nodded. "She did," she confirmed. "Tim and I agreed what we'd done that night was a mistake and he went back to her, but… but then it happened again… and then the third time Sara walked in on us. It was like a scene from a soap opera. I'll never forget the sound of her screaming at me… at him. I hated myself, but he had been so… persuasive. I don't mean he forced me, it wasn't like that. I knew what I was doing, but somehow I had convinced myself that it was OK, because he made me feel special. None of the other guys I slept with made me feel the way he did."

Now Paige had tears in her eyes. She'd never made it into bed with Tim. She'd wanted to on so many occasions and they'd come so close, but something had held her back. She'd convinced herself it was because of her history with Drew, but deep down she also knew it was because of Walter. Tim had been disappointed – that was an understatement – but he'd respected her decision. He'd never pushed her, she'd never felt intimidated by him.

 _People change. Fifteen years is a long time…_

"Then Sara found out she was pregnant," said Paige as the realisation hit her.

"Yes, about a month or so after that," nodded Lydia. "Tim had already shipped out to Iraq by the time she realised and… well, we talked about it a lot, but Sara realised she would be better off without Tim Armstrong in her life."

Paige smiled weakly.

 _But if a scared, single, pregnant, teenage girl had been able to come to that decision, why can't I…?_

Paige had so much sympathy for Sara and her situation. Paige herself had been a couple of years older than Sara when she'd had Ralph and at least Drew had been there – on and off – at the beginning of Ralph's life. Sara had been alone… at least she would have been if she hadn't had Lydia.

Suddenly Paige realised something. "She forgave you?" Her voice cracked as she spoke.

Drew had cheated on her so many times she'd lost count, but Paige had never met any of the women… as far as she was aware. She had, however, imagined what she would do to them if she ever _did_ meet them and it certainly didn't involve forgiveness. Sara was a better person, Paige thought to herself and her friendship with Lydia was special to have survived all these years.

"She was so angry with me, but she needed me," replied Lydia. "I felt so bad… so terribly bad about what I'd done, but I wanted to do anything I could to make up for it. Sara and I have known each other since kindergarten. We've always been closer than sisters. I made a huge mistake and I'll regret it forever, but I couldn't let that come between us. We spent a whole night on the beach talking – yelling and crying mostly, but communicating, at least – and we decided we weren't going to let a man come between us. Then a few days after that she started throwing up and I thought it was my fault, I thought I'd made her ill, but she must've known because she decided to take a test and it was positive."

"Did either of you ever think of contacting Tim?" asked Paige.

Lydia shook her head. "Nope," she said. "We agreed if Marnie ever asked about her Dad we'd tell her the truth, all of it – when she was old enough, of course – but she never asked. I'm glad, to be honest. When Sara's mental health began to… well, it started after Marnie was born…"

"Postpartum depression?" queried Paige.

"That's what the doctors said," agreed Lydia. "And it got worse. I mean, she can go months now, even a year or two with no symptoms then something triggers it and she goes downhill again. But she wasn't in a good way when we saw you guys on TV – when she saw Tim right there on the screen – and she just blurted it out. I wish she hadn't. I know he's a war hero now – I always knew he would be, he wasn't a bad person, despite everything and part of me wonders if I should've tried to tell him about Marnie, he deserved to have the chance to know his daughter – but Marnie is such a great kid and I'm scared this will just screw up her life. She doesn't deserve that. She doesn't deserve it at all."

Paige nodded. She had so many more questions, but right now she didn't have the strength to ask them.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Lydia suddenly. The colour had drained from her face and she clutched her hands to her mouth. "I'm so sorry! You and Tim… I completely forgot, I'm sorry, I guess you didn't know any of that before."

Paige silently shook her head. She'd met Tim's parents and they'd shared a few anecdotes about his childhood, but that's all she knew of his past. He'd never spoken about his early career, he'd certainly never talked about any of this.

"It's OK," said Paige, sounding less than convinced. "It's fine, it was a long time ago… it's OK."

But it wasn't OK. Paige knew people could change, she knew people made mistakes when they were young and she knew Tim's experiences in the SEALS – as a leader, as a soldier - had made him into a better man… but he was still a cheat.

"Excuse me… I need to… to use the bathroom," she said suddenly and she ran off.

Lydia watched her go, wondering why she'd felt compelled to tell her story to a woman she'd only just met.

Minutes later Paige's head flopped over the toilet bowl and she flushed away the entire contents of her stomach.

 _To be continued..._


	10. Chapter 10 - Processing

**-Walter tries to engage the others in a late night debriefing session, but Paige's mind is elsewhere.-**

 _ **Thank you to everyone who is reading and enjoying this story. I really appreciate all the reviews.**_

 **CHAPTER 10.**

"Let's think about what we know." Walter sat cross-legged on the bed in his hotel room and opened his laptop. He pressed a finger to his left ear. "Sly? Cabe? Are you there?"

" _Right here, son,"_ came Cabe's reply over the comm.

"Do we have to debrief now, Walter?" asked Paige with a sigh. "I'm exhausted."

Toby looked up at her, but she deliberately turned her head away. She realised he'd know something had happened, but she wasn't ready to talk about it. Right now she just wanted to sleep.

Walter briefly stopped typing and frowned at her. "We're no closer to solving this puzzle and… and lives could be at risk. I'm not happy about leaving Marnie with Lydia and Gary, there is a possibility that whoever killed the truck driver will come after her next."

"Agreed," said Happy. "The plan was she shared a hotel room with me, or Paige tonight. Changing the plan at the last minute is not good, Boss."

"But she was desperate to stay, remember?" replied Paige.

Marnie had become quite distressed at the thought of not being able to stay with Lydia and Gary. Walter had repeated their earlier, somewhat flimsy excuse about her being a witness, but Marnie had insisted she wanted to sleep in her own bed – she thought of Lydia's apartment as her second home and she had emotionally explained that, after all the recent drama, she just needed to be at home.

Paige didn't have the strength to argue, but had managed to persuade Walter and the others that she'd be fine.

"With Marnie no longer under our protection there is all the more reason to bring the perpetrator to justice quickly," said Walter. "Now, we know the hack originated at the naval base and also that, if today is anything to go by, they are being deliberately obstructive to our investigations. We also know that… that T…T…Timothy Armstrong's accounts were used in the execution of the attack."

"Without his knowledge," Paige pointed out.

"That's speculation," retorted Walter.

" _Walter…"_ It was Cabe's voice again. His tone was low and cautionary.

Walter cleared his throat. "But we… we can probably assume he was not involved," he said.

"Y'know, Walt, gritting your teeth so hard wears down the enamel," Toby chipped in.

Walter ignored the jibe. It was true he would like nothing better than to somehow prove Tim was guilty of something other than being a person of dubious character, but right now he knew he had to focus on finding the real criminal.

"We also know that a truck driver, now deceased, was paid to pick up Marnie and plant the device in her bag," he continued.

"Has that been confirmed?" asked Paige. She vaguely remembered something about a payment being mentioned during the taxi ride to the hotel, but she hadn't been concentrating on the conversation at all and now the details were foggy.

Sylvester's voice answered. _"Five thousand dollars wired into his account forty eight hours ago," he said. "And then removed again this morning."_

"It was there long enough for the driver to think he'd been paid so he didn't start asking questions," noted Happy. "Then he was killed so they took their money back. Smart."

" _Sure looks that way,"_ acknowledged Sylvester. _"Source is untraceable… for now, but Ralph and I are still working on it."_

"Our hacker sure knows how to cover his tracks," noted Toby.

"We also know the device is advanced tech, not readily available on the open market," added Walter.

Toby slipped his hat from his head and slowly spun it round in his lap. "What we don't have is a motive," he said. "If these guys were that tech savvy they'd know they wouldn't be in our system long enough to get any useful data from us. So they were just posturing. Making themselves known to us. Sending us a warning, maybe?"

"A warning that they're planning something bigger?" suggested Happy, shifting uncomfortably on the bed.

"Possibly, lovebug," nodded Toby seriously.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow, boss?" asked Happy. She needed to feel like she was doing something.

"We return to the base," replied Walter. "Cabe, you said you may have another contact, do you have a name for me yet?"

" _I'm still waiting for her to return my call,"_ Cabe answered. _"I haven't seen her for twelve years and… well…"_

"Ooh, an old girlfriend!" exclaimed Toby with a grin.

" _Old commanding officer, actually, Doc,"_ Cabe corrected him.

"But there's still a story there isn't there!" exclaimed Toby with delight. "We'll definitely talk about this when I get back!"

" _No, we definitely won't!"_

"Spoilsport." Toby folded his arms across his chest, momentarily defeated. "When we're done at the base tomorrow I'm going back to the hospital with Marnie to see Sara again," he added.

"And where does she fit into all this?" asked Happy.

Paige frowned. "You think she has something to do with the hacking?" she asked.

"We don't know at this juncture," replied Walter, furiously typing notes as he spoke.

"Someone swapped her meds with placebos," added Toby. "And it started weeks ago, based on her condition."

"Right around the time she identified Tim as Marnie's Dad," Happy pointed out.

"Surely just a coincidence?" offered Paige.

" _Or a conspiracy,"_ suggested Sylvester over the comms.

"You think everything's a conspiracy, Sly," Paige pointed out, rolling her tired eyes.

"It would be prudent for you to investigate further, Toby," agreed Walter.

"Especially considering we have zero other leads right now," noted Toby. "There is another angle we should look into," he added. "Gary."

" _Lydia's husband?"_ queried Cabe. _"You think he's involved somehow?"_

"Not sure," replied Toby. "But something's... off. I didn't pick up any deception markers, but he was eager to make sure we knew a lot about him."

"I thought he was just making conversation?" said Happy. "Really dull and boring conversation."

"I don't understand why he thought we'd be interested in his life story, or medical history?" said Walter.

"Maybe he was just fishing for sympathy?" suggested Paige.

"Or deflecting," said Toby.

" _I'll run a background check, guys,"_ said Sylvester.

"Anyone have anything else?" asked Walter, glancing around the room.

It was then that he noticed how pale Paige was looking. Just a few hours earlier they'd shared... what was it Toby had called this kind of thing in the past?

A _moment_.

Yes, they'd shared a moment. Her eyes had been bright and their closeness had sent feelings surging through his body that he hadn't dare to imagine he would feel again.

Then during dinner it had almost felt as though the old Paige was back. Her laughter had lifted the conversation and her company had been delightful.

Now the sparkle was gone. Something had happened, something was wrong.

Paige noticed him staring at her and quickly looked away.

"Paige…?"

"Are we done?" She cut him off, getting wearily to her feet as she spoke. "I want to go to bed, it's almost midnight." Her tone was pleading.

"We've crossed three time zones," Walter pointed out pedantically. "We started the day in Pacific Time, your body clock has not yet had time to adjust, therefore…"

"We could have a debate about circadian rhythms now, One Ninety Seven," said Toby, raising his eyebrows. "Or we could all go to beddy-byes. I vote for option two."

Toby stood up from his position on the bed, deliberately bouncing as he moved which caused Walter's laptop to slide from his knees. Walter barely managed to prevent it crashing to the floor.

Walter readjusted the position of his laptop and glared at Toby.

"Goodnight, Walter," said Paige and before anyone had time to reply she had left the room.

"Sleep tight, O'Brien," added Happy stretching her legs as she stood up from the uncomfortable chair she'd been sitting on. She turned to Toby. "You coming to bed, Doc?" she asked.

Toby winked at her. "You don't have to ask me twice, darlin'," he replied. "Don't let the bedbugs bite, Walt," he added and then in an instant, Walter was alone.

He snapped the lid of his laptop closed with more aggression than necessary before placing it on the floor. Then he laid back on the bed. The hotel pillows were softer than he was used to and he immediately realised he would most likely wake up with stiff shoulders in the morning.

He let out a long sigh. They'd flown here without any real leads and now he was starting to think it had been a waste of time. He glanced over at his phone which was charging on the bedside table, half hoping to see the flashing LED notification indicating Sylvester had just emailed some more information, but there was nothing to see.

Walter felt anger starting to rise inside him. Someone had attacked Scorpion and they had no idea who it was, or why they'd done it, or even if they were at this very moment planning something worse. How dare anyone do that to him, to his company… to his family!

He felt helpless.

And he wanted to talk to Paige.

But Paige was probably at this moment Skyping Tim to say goodnight. Blowing him kisses, telling him how much she loved him… despite the way he'd upset her, despite the appalling way he'd reacted to the news he had a daughter. Why couldn't Paige see that Timothy Armstrong did not deserve someone like her, especially not now?

Walter turned onto his side and clutched his arms around his middle. Now his anger had turned to sadness and he gulped hard as a wave of emotion came out of nowhere and threatened to overwhelm him. He despised his low EQ, despised that he couldn't make sense of his own feelings, let alone anyone else's. Maybe if he could understand why Paige was acting the way she was, he could find a way to get through to her? Maybe if he they could just talk rationally about Timothy… No, no, that just wasn't possible.

Walter closed his eyes and within minutes his brain couldn't take anymore and he was asleep.

Happy and Toby's room was on the next floor up and they'd raced up the stairs to get to the door. Happy got there first by almost two seconds and scanned the keycard. "Winner gets the bathroom first!" she exclaimed with glee as the door unlocked.

A panting Toby scowled at her. "Whatever you wish, Light-of-my-life," he replied and he closed the door behind them.

As Happy headed straight for the bathroom, Toby unlaced his Converse boots and threw them under the chair. Their hotel room was slightly larger than Walter's and he took a moment to smile smugly to himself about that particular fact. Then his smile faded.

All he wanted to do was crawl into bed and snuggle with Happy all night, but he couldn't help worrying about Paige. He knew something had happened at Lydia's and he also knew she wouldn't want to talk about it… but he had to try anyway.

"Lovebug," he called through the bathroom door. "I'm just gonna go check on Paige. Won't be long. Love you."

"Love you too, Dummy," came Happy's muffled reply.

Paige's room was on the same floor as Walter's, but this time Toby took the lift. It took three loud knocks and him calling her name to get Paige to open the door and when she finally did she didn't look pleased.

"Remember how I told Walter I was exhausted?" she snapped.

"I remember," replied Toby, barging past her and into the room. "So am I."

She had changed into a robe and had been in the middle of removing her make-up. "Then what the hell are you doing here?" she asked indignantly.

Toby strode purposefully across the room, opened the mini-bar and took out a bottle of water. Paige looked on in disbelief as he unscrewed the cap before handing it to her. "Drink this," he said. "Doctor's orders."

"You came here to get me to drink some water?" she asked, screwing her face up into a puzzled frown.

"Dehydration," Toby explained as he led her by the shoulder towards the bed. "Happens after vomiting."

Paige gasped and stared at him. "How did you…?" but she didn't need to finish her sentence. Of course he'd have figured it out by now.

"Your eyes," he replied. "And your… never mind. Now drink, small sips if your stomach still feels like Walter's after he tried Ray's home brew that time."

"I… I'm not pregnant if that's what you're thinking," said Paige.

Toby chuckled at her comment. "Of course not," he replied. "I remember at medical school they told us how babies are made and you definitely haven't been doing that!"

"Toby!" she exclaimed.

Paige knew he was deliberately pushing her buttons, trying to wind her up to the point where she just blurted out whatever it was he wanted to hear just to get rid of him. She wasn't going to fall for it. Not this time.

"Just get into bed and finish that water," he said. His voice was more gentle now, more caring. He paused for a moment, analysing her every move. "Then you can tell me what happened with Lydia."

"Toby! No!" she exclaimed. She climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged. "I'm not doing this now. Go back to Happy. I promise I'll drink the water."

Toby pressed his lips together. "OK," he said, eventually. "But if whatever Lydia told you today was…"

"What were you like, say, fifteen or sixteen years ago?" she asked, suddenly interrupting him.

Toby sat himself down on the edge of the bed. "Me? I was a jerk," he began, with more than a touch of regret in his voice. "More than I am now, I mean. I was in the grip of my addiction, I was drinking too much, I treated people like crap… but then people were kinda treating me like crap too. My dad, mostly…"

He paused to gather his thoughts. It wasn't often that he allowed himself to be this vulnerable in front of anyone apart from Happy, but he realised Paige deserved his honesty and it was the only way he could get her to return the favour and open up to him.

"Then… then, Walter found me in the gutter," he continued. "Literally in a gutter, I think I'd been there all night. And, well…" a smiled danced at the corners of his lips. "Now I'm the wonderful person you see before you."

"You've changed," she stated, sipping at her water.

"Not really," he admitted. "I just learnt how to overcome the… let's say the less appealing sides of my personality. I'm still that person."

"No, no, you're not!" insisted Paige. "You're my friend, Toby, you're a good person. People can change."

Toby let out a sigh. "What did you find out about Tim?" he asked. Paige's heartfelt words had caught him by surprise and that didn't happen very often. He really didn't want to talk about himself anymore.

"He… he cheated on her… on Sara," said Paige, her voice barely more than a whisper now. "He's a cheat, Toby and… and after everything I went through with Drew I don't think… I don't think I can…"

Toby grasped her wrist and looked into her eyes. "Then don't," he said. "Call him, email him, send a carrier pigeon, whatever it takes, but…"

"But then I'm judging him on his past mistakes," said Paige. Her bottle of water was half empty now and she swirled the remaining liquid around, watching as it splashed higher and higher towards the neck of the bottle and threatened to splash out into her lap. "What kind of person does that make me?"

"You need to take care of yourself," insisted Toby. "Look at you. Look what this is doing to you. Think about Ralph."

"Don't bring my son into this," snapped Paige.

Toby released her wrist and held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Sorry," he said. "But isn't Ralph always the first person you think about in any situation?"

Paige opened her mouth to answer, but then closed it again. He was right. Of course he was right. This wasn't about her, or Tim, or even Walter. It was about Ralph. What kind of example was she setting for her son?

"Listen," continued Toby. "I know you're scared. You're giving me every fear marker under the sun right now. Thing is, I'm good at this, but even I don't know what exactly you're so scared of, unless you want to tell me?"

Paige thought for a moment. He was absolutely right, of course, she was scared. It made sense to her now, all the feelings she'd been experiencing over the last few days suddenly made sense, but she had absolutely no idea what to do about it.

"People always leave me, Toby," she replied, eventually, her voice cracking with emotion. "My Mom… my Dad… Drew… so now I have someone who actually wants to be with me, I… I just don't think I can take that leap. I don't think I can be the one to do the leaving. What if I never get the chance to be with someone again? What if I'm alone for the rest of my life? It could be the biggest mistake I ever make. Am I crazy?"

Toby reached out to her again, grasping her shoulder as tears formed in her eyes. "Big time crazy," he replied with a warm smile. "Total fruit loop."

Paige couldn't help but laugh. "Is that what you used to tell your patients?" she asked.

"Sure," he replied. "How else do you think I got 'em to come back for a second appointment?"

Paige's smile soon faded. "I just need more time," she said seriously. "I know it doesn't make sense – hell, it doesn't even make sense to me – but that's the way it is. The way it has to be. Turns out Walter isn't the only one who has trouble processing their emotions."

"OK, well you know I'll do everything I can to help," he said earnestly. "But ultimately you have to do what's best for you. For now I prescribe sleep."

"I'll try," she replied and she quickly gulped down the rest of the water. "Thanks for this," she added.

Ten minutes later Toby was brushing his teeth and Happy was lying in bed waiting for him. "Come on, Doc!" she pleaded.

At the last minute she'd thrown a black silk camisole into her overnight bag and she'd secretly slipped it on while he was in the bathroom. It had been a rough week and she knew exactly what she wanted to do to de-stress.

"Hurry up!"

"Sorry, Honeybunch," he said as he emerged naked from the bathroom. "I was just thinking about… oh…"

Toby's eyes widened with delight at the sight of his soon-to-be spouse sprawled across the bed. She didn't often choose traditionally sexy lingerie – he didn't care, he found her sexy in anything… or nothing - but the way the silk draped over her curves made his heart pound with anticipation.

Happy grinned at him. "Thinking about what?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Doesn't matter," Toby answered as he jumped onto the bed, straddling her hips and interlacing his fingers with hers. "Right now I'm thinking about…" he leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the lips… "…about how lucky I am that I get to do this…" he kissed her again… "…with the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Quality line, Doc," she replied, throwing her head back so he could kiss her neck the way he knew she liked.

Their lovemaking was always passionate, sometimes with a heightened sense of urgency, sometimes slow and gentle – Toby always knew how she wanted it - but always passionate. Tonight was no exception and it wasn't long before Toby fell back onto the pillows, gasping for breath. "Wow…" he breathed.

Happy fell on top of him. "Wow…" she repeated. "We really should…" she trailed off to catch her breath. "We really should do this again sometime."

"Hmmm… maybe," he replied with a dismissive shrug, earning him a slap on the shoulder.

"We should go to sleep," added Happy. "I think tomorrow is gonna be another long day. How was Paige earlier, by the way? I forgot to ask. I was… distracted."

"Paige? Oh Paige is a mess right now," replied Toby, pulling her close and tenderly stroking her hair. "But it won't last forever. I trust her to fix this, even if she is going about it the hard way."

Happy's eyes closed contentedly as she pressed herself against him, but the moment was ruined by the sound of her phone ringing.

She let out a grunt of frustration and leaned over Toby to pick it up. "It's O'Brien," she said, not really surprised. She tapped the screen and pressed the phone to her ear. "This had better be important, boss," she snapped, switching the phone to loudspeaker so Toby could hear.

" _It is,"_ came the reply.

"Whatever it is can't be as important as me and my wife-to-be laying here in post-coital ecstasy!" called Toby, folding his arms across his bare chest moodily.

" _I just got off the phone with Sly,"_ continued Walter, pretending he hadn't heard Toby's comment _. "He ran that background check on Gary and guess what."  
_

"I don't play guessing games at one thirty in the morning," retorted Happy. "Whatever time zone we're in," she added, rolling her eyes.

" _Gary was in the same intake of new recruits as Tim at West Palm Beach,"_ explained Walter. _"Sixteen years ago, they trained together, they knew each other."_

"Is that it?" snapped Happy. "Lydia knew him too, they're married, this isn't really news, is it?"

" _But, I… I,"_ stammered Walter. _"There's a connection there, he didn't mention it yesterday, why did he keep it from us?"_

"Walter," began Toby. "Listen to me, pal. You need to get this fixation with proving Tim's involved in all this outta your head. Got it?"

" _But, what if…"_

"Go to bed, Walt!" exclaimed Happy and she ended the call. Then she turned to Toby. "What are we gonna do with him, Doc?" she asked.

Toby thought for a moment. "Look, Walter's done some really dumb things lately, but this… I think he may have something here. He's just getting distracted by Tim."

Happy shrugged. "If you say so," she replied. "Y'know something, Doc, I really wish we'd never met Tim Armstrong."

 _To be continued..._


	11. Chapter 11 - Facts and Fears

**-Walter and Happy undertake a risky mission, while Paige and Toby discover more about Tim's past.-**

 ** _I'm so sorry it's been a while since I posted the last chapter, I've just been so busy! I promise to work harder on this story, I'm so grateful for all your reviews and continuing support. Having the opportunity to tell this story means a lot to me so I'm just as desperate to write it as you are to read it. Thank you to everyone who is still following my work, I hope you enjoy the update._**

 **CHAPTER 11.**

"Mr O'Brien, I'm Rear Admiral Marchant, I've heard a lot about you and your team. Please come in."

When Cabe had disclosed that his contact at the naval base was a Rear Admiral, no one had expected the petite woman who had just greeted them. Paige couldn't imagine her taking charge of an entire warship, not because she was a woman, of course, but just because she was so softly spoken.

The team were ushered into a small office. The walls were covered with certificates and photographs - some in black and white - that proudly displayed the long and successful history of the base.

"I understand from Gallo that you believe we have a security leak here?" offered Marchant.

"We have evidence that indicates a cyber-attack on our system originated here, yes," agreed Walter.

"I hope you're wrong," replied Marchant. "But I'll do some digging around for you. I split my time between here and two other bases these days, but we run a tight ship. Discipline is of the utmost importance in the military as I'm sure you've learnt from Gallo."

"Oh sure," replied Toby. "Mr Discipline, we call him, right, Walt?"

Marchant's expression indicated she wasn't sure if he was being serious or not. "Well, anyway, I'm not naïve, I realise it's possible to infiltrate even the most dedicated military personnel. We have a lot of dealings with bad people, as you can imagine."

Happy rolled her eyes. Is that what they called the enemy these days? _Bad people?_ Even the military are going soft, she thought scornfully.

Walter spent a few minutes explaining some of the details of the attack and how they had been able to trace the source. Merchant, to her credit, appeared to be keeping up with most of the tech speak.

"We appreciate your assistance in this matter," said Walter.

"Cabe Gallo said you could be trusted," added Toby.

Merchant's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm glad," she added. Then her eyes narrowed again. "I have to say, I didn't expect to hear from him again."

"He told us what happened," lied Toby.

Paige shot him a look and Happy deliberately stepped on his toes. It was all he could do to stop himself from yelping.

"Hmmm, it was... disappointing," said Marchant. She pursed her lips ruefully.

"These things so often are," nodded Toby, sympathetically.

"Gallo told me you had one of our old trainees in your team?" said Marchant.

"Timothy Armstrong was working with us f...f...for a while," replied Walter. "He was not technically a member of our team though."

"I see," answered the Rear Admiral, although she was clearly puzzled by his need to clarify the point.

"Do you... do you have any pertinent information about him?" asked Walter, gingerly. He was half expecting a rebuke from Paige, but she said nothing.

"I wasn't involved in the training programme back then," replied Marchant. "But I can give you the details of the commanding officer at the time," she offered, logging into the computer on her desk as she spoke. "Do you think Armstrong is involved in this somehow?"

"No!" Paige answered with more urgency than she'd intended.

"Yes, actually," Walter corrected her. "In fact we know the perpetrators used his details as a way to penetrate part of our security protocols."

Toby sniggered. "Penetr..." he began, but was cut off by a sharp elbow in the ribs from Happy.

"Anything you can give us would be helpful," Paige said quickly.

"What about a Gary - Gareth – Kelly?" asked Toby, regaining his composure. "We believe he was a trainee here at the same time."

"Kelly... hmmm... no... oh, wait," Marchant frowned at her computer screen. "That's odd, I can't access..." She trailed off and tapped a few more keys.

"If a Rear Admiral can't access it, we're talking something serious," noted Toby, exchanging a glance with Walter.

"Leave it with me," replied Marchant. "I'll get onto our I.T. guys about it, damn computers drive me nuts."

"Thank you for your time," said Walter graciously.

"I'll walk you out," nodded Marchant. "Tell Gallo it was good talking to him again."

Happy gave Toby a sideways look, half expecting him to throw out another remark about Cabe's mysterious history with Marchant, but he didn't.

Instead, Toby was watching Walter and he barely took his eyes off him while they returned their security passes and collected their cell phones.

"I'm gonna go see Sara," said Toby as they got outside the compound and headed towards the parking lot where they'd left their hire car.

"I'll come with you," said Paige.

Toby grabbed her by the arm and they dropped back from the others. "So you can quiz her about Tim?" he offered in a low voice. "Great idea! If you want to send your breakfast the same direction as last night's dinner, that is. Do you have an eating disorder I should be worried about? Are you on the Emotional Turmoil Diet?"

"Toby!" hissed Paige. "I just want to meet her... to talk to her."

"Toby," began Walter, but his face fell into a frown when he realised Toby and Paige were a few feet behind him. "Toby!" he said a little louder and Toby and Paige picked up their pace until they'd caught up with Walter and Happy.

"Sorry, One Ninety Seven," said Toby. "Didn't realise we were racing to the car." Then he suddenly broke into a sprint and ran the short distance back to the vehicle. He threw his arms in the air and grinned exuberantly. "I won!" he exclaimed.

"Don't be such a dork," Happy reprimanded him, but the corners of her lips twitched into a smile as he spoke and Toby nodded in appreciation.

Walter threw the car keys at Toby and he snatched them out of the air.

"You and Paige take the car," said Walter, pulling his phone from his pocket. "I'll call a cab. I want to head back to the hotel and bounce some ideas around with Sly and Ralph."

"OK, boss," agreed Toby. He leaned in and kissed Happy on the cheek. "See you later, Honeybunch," he said. Then he lowered his voice. "Walt's up to something," he said and Happy's eyes widened in surprise. "Be careful, Lovebug."

As Toby and Paige drove away, Walter put his phone away without having made a call.

"What's going on?" asked Happy.

Walter turned to her with a serious look on his face. "We're going back in," he explained. "Whatever was in that file Rear Admiral Marchant couldn't open is buried deep. Old data may not even be on their network server so we have no way of hacking in remotely. We'll have to hard wire into their internal systems."

"How are we going to do that?"

"I cloned our Visitors Pass," explained Walter, showing her the palm-sized cloning device in his hand. "Just in case."

Happy smiled. "I like it," she acknowledged.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

"How do you know Sara was being given placebos?" Paige felt sure Toby had already told her the answer last night, but if he had she couldn't remember.

"CCTV," answered Toby as they walked along the hospital corridor. "Doc Ellis checked the footage and one of the nurses has been swapping the pills. His guess is she's a junkie, but he's wrong."

"How do you know?"

"One, because she would've done the same thing to other patients and as far as Ellis can tell she only took Sara's drugs and two, because he emailed me the footage and she's not displaying any addiction markers," Toby explained. "And believe me I'd recognise them. She could be selling the drugs on, but if she was doing it for money then greed would definitely compel her to steal anything she could get her hands on, not just one patient's meds."

"Did Ellis confront her?"

"Nope, she's disappeared," replied Toby. "Hasn't been seen since we showed up yesterday. Now that could be because my incredible good looks were too much for her, or because she knows she's been rumbled. Ah, this is Sara's room. Now, remember what I said?"

Toby glanced through the window to see Sara talking with Doctor Ellis. He gripped the door handle and looked expectedly at Paige for her answer.

"That I shouldn't interrogate her about Tim," replied Paige, dropping her eyes to the floor.

She knew Toby was right, but she was desperate to hear Sara's side of the story. She was desperate to hear that Tim's past wasn't quite as ugly as it seemed… desperate for something to justify her actions because right now she was struggling to justify them to herself.

"Hey," said Toby, softly. "Just don't push too hard, OK?"

Paige nodded and took a deep breath as they entered the room. Toby introduced Paige to Sara and the doctor and they spent a while talking, mostly about Marnie. Doctor Ellis was called to another patient and left the room after a few minutes, while Toby was uncharacteristically quiet as the two women talked. He simply sat back and observed, making mental notes about them both and only interjecting with the occasional comment. Paige and Sara quickly built a rapport as they discussed the struggles they'd had as single parents and how proud they both were of their respective offspring.

Sara asked about Drew and Paige chose her words carefully. Drew had mostly been a terrible father to Ralph, but at least he'd known his son existed. Granted, until quite recently he hadn't seen Ralph for several years and even now they only spoke on the phone occasionally, but at least he was there. The more she talked the more she began to feel a level of affection – no, that wasn't it… a level of _regard_ – for Drew that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Good God, now even Drew was better than Tim in her eyes…

 _Why can't I just tell him that we're over…?_

"Paige? Paige?"

It was Toby's voice and his gentle touch of her arm snapped Paige out of her thoughts.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Toby tilted his head slightly and shot her a concerned glance.

"I'm OK," she muttered.

Toby wasn't at all convinced.

Suddenly Sara leapt to her feet and looked nervously towards the door. "Is… is he here?" she asked.

"Who? Drew?" Paige replied, with a puzzled frown.

"No… Tim!" exclaimed Sara.

Toby was immediately concerned. So far Paige had quite successfully managed to avoid an in depth conversation about Tim, but now Sara's mind appeared fixated on him.

"No, Tim's not here," replied Toby.

"He's working in the Middle East," added Paige. "He's thousands of miles away."

Sara nodded slowly and sat down again. She blinked hard. "I loved him," she said quietly.

Paige glanced worriedly at Toby. Sara's demeanour had changed and it made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Tell us about Tim," suggested Toby.

Now Paige was confused. Hadn't Toby explicitly warned her against asking Sara about Tim?

"How did he make you feel when you were together?" probed Toby.

It was then that Paige realised Toby was using his professional voice. Toby had identified Sara's need to talk about Tim after all and this had moved from a friendly conversation to some kind of therapy session. She wondered if she should leave the room to allow them some privacy, but before she had the chance to make an excuse Sara grabbed her hand.

"He made me feel… wanted," she said. She smiled at Paige and they shared a moment of mutual understanding. Paige realised that was exactly how Tim had made her feel too.

After her stalled attempt to start a relationship with Walter – after the way he had categorically rejected the idea by initiating the No Fraternisation policy – Tim had breezed into her life and _wanted_ her. No one had ever done that before and it sounded like a dreadful cliché, but he really had swept her off her feet. She'd leapt into their relationship without thinking because he'd offered it to her and it had been so easy. Until now.

"I loved him," continued Sara. "I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wish I'd understood, but we were so young. I was a kid, I was an idiot. He cheated on me… did you know that?"

"Um… yes, Lydia told me," replied Paige, a little awkwardly. "But it wasn't your fault, Sara. He shouldn't have treated you that way."

Sara shook her head. "That's why I didn't tell him I was pregnant. I didn't want a man like that to have a say in how I raise my child. I didn't want him to be her father."

"I understand," insisted Paige. Then she felt Sara's grip on her hand tighten.

"Is he here? Is Tim here?"

"No," replied Paige, wondering why she was asking again. "He's not here, Sara, it's OK."

"Are you frightened of Tim?" asked Toby.

"Tim?" Sara gasped. Her eyes darted around the room. "Is he here? Is he going to take Marnie away? I can look after her, I just need to get well again. Don't let him take her! Please!"

"I promise you that won't happen, he's not here," replied Toby as Sara's breathing quickly became erratic. "It's alright, just breathe. Marnie's safe with Lydia, she's not going anywhere. Tim's not here, you're OK. Come on, breathe."

Paige stayed quiet as Toby worked to calm Sara down. Eventually they persuaded her to get into bed and she fell asleep almost immediately.

A few minutes later they were sitting in the hospital garden.

"Is she going to be OK?" asked Paige. "She seemed so scared."

"She'll be fine," Toby tried to reassure her. "She's only been back on her meds for a day, it takes a while for her system to readjust. What about you? Are you OK?"

"Me? I'm fine," insisted Paige. "We should tell her that Tim doesn't want anything to do with Marnie. He's definitely not going to fight for custody if that's what she's thinking."

Toby nodded. "She's going to find it difficult to hear, though," he explained. "Fear really took hold of her just now, but when you were talking before she said a few things… part of her does want him to walk back into her life and be a father to Marnie, despite what she says."

"Why?" asked Paige, with a look of horror on her face.

"Because she still holds the good memories close," answered Toby. "And she's clutching those memories tightly because her life has been so difficult ever since. She wants those good times back, but she also knows it can't happen and she can't process those conflicting ideas at the moment."

Paige nodded, trying to understand. "Is that what I'm doing?" she asked. "Clinging onto the good times? Am I as crazy as Sara?"

Toby sighed. Paige had plenty of issues of her own, but she wasn't crazy – despite how her recent behaviour might appear to some people. "There's a lot going on in her mind right now, Paige," he answered. "Hopefully after she's had some sleep we can talk some more if she's feeling up to it."

Paige nodded slowly.

"Paige," said Toby firmly. "You're not crazy," he insisted. "Well, no more than the rest of us," he added with a wink.

Paige managed a small laugh. "That's not very reassuring."

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Hurry up, O'Brien!" hissed Happy. She was standing by the door of Rear Admiral Marchant's office looking through the tiny gap out into the corridor. "She might come back any time and if we're caught in here we're dead."

Walter was furiously tapping keys on the computer on Marchant's desk. "I'm going as fast as I can," he replied. "I'm struggling to find the… oh, wait, this must be it. I'll download the entire contents of this old server, it's going to take a few minutes." He snapped a flash drive into the USB slot and started the download. "This has to be it," he mumbled as the data started to copy across at a painfully slow speed. He opened one of the files and scanned down the text on the screen, but the more he read the more confused he became. "Hmmm… oh dear… this is interesting…"

"Don't keep it to yourself, boss!" urged Happy, briefly turning her head to glare at Walter before returning to her look-out duty.

"Large parts of this document have been redacted," began Walter. "It won't take Sly long to fix that though. Tim… Timothy's name is mentioned several times and so is Gary's. There was an incident while they were both training here, but…" he trailed off as he tried to make sense of the words that were still readable.

"So there was some kind of cover up?" queried Happy. "And Tim was involved. Not good."

"Indeed," agreed Walter.

"Paige is gonna freak out," noted Happy. "Freak out some more, I mean."

"Possibly," Walter answered her dismissively. "But once she knows the facts, w…whatever they are, she'll…"

"Paige isn't you, or me, Walter!" Happy interrupted him. "Emotions rule her head, not facts, you know that."

"It's inefficient," replied Walter, bluntly. "Paige is wasting her time with Timothy. She should… should sever all ties with him, that's the logical step after what he's done. She should learn to make better decisions about her p…p…personal life."

"Listen, Walt," urged Happy. "Logic doesn't come into it when you're making decisions about your love life. Look at me and the Doc? Where's the logic in that? But we're good together, we work and we're getting married because… because we love each other."

"And I'm very happy for you both."

"Geez, thanks, O'Brien." Happy rolled her eyes. She knew deep down that Walter really was pleased for them, even if his words had sounded empty. "What I'm trying to say," she continued. "Is that when you're in love you do dumb things, but sometimes those things aren't so dumb after all."

She let out a sigh of frustration at Walter's puzzled look. She wasn't the best at explaining this kind of thing, but she knew Walter listened to her so she was desperate to help him understand for Paige's sake and for the sake of the whole team.

"Doing dumb things is, by definition, dumb," said Walter pedantically. "As is this conversation."

"Hear me out," replied Happy, desperate to keep the building frustration out of her voice. "OK, what about you? You're the most unemotional person I know, the most logical person, you make decisions based on facts alone, right?"

"Yes," agreed Walter, nodding emphatically.

Happy knew it wasn't true at all, but it was the way Walter perceived himself so she was prepared to go with it for now. She took a quick breath, knowing what she was about to say would hit a nerve, but it was the only way she could think of to illustrate her point.

"So explain Tahoe."

"What?"

"Tahoe, Walter," repeated Happy. "I know I was kind of wrapped up in my own problems that night…"

"You had just rejected Toby's proposal of marriage."

"Exactly," agreed Happy, shuddering as the image of Toby's devastated face flashed into her mind. "But we've fixed that now, so let's get back to you. From what I heard, you went racing off to Tahoe, drove seven hours through the night to get there to do what? Play some dumb pranks on Tim? Really?"

"Yes," nodded Walter stoically. "I was unhappy with… with the way he had behaved and so I… I decided to exact punishment."

"By screwing up their hotel arrangements? Oh, real logical," said Happy sarcastically. "Look, she's acting like a moron right now, but this whole Tim fiasco hasn't exactly been your finest hour either, Walt. No wonder Sly can't even say his name around you anymore!"

Walter pressed his lips together and glanced desperately at the flash drive, willing it to complete the download.

"Come on, this is me you're talking to," continued Happy. "What were you really thinking when you jumped in your car that night? What was really going through that logical, unemotional brain of yours?"

Happy was aware that Toby knew more about what had happened that night than she did, but she'd never asked him for details and, to his credit, he'd never let anything slip. Her fiancé could be the worst when it came to keeping a secret, unless it was a really important one. If it was something really serious, something that affected someone he cared about deeply, then his professionalism kicked in and he kept his big mouth shut, much to Happy's disappointment at times.

"I… I…" stammered Walter.

He wanted to tell her, he wanted Happy to understand, but he didn't know how she'd react. Toby and Cabe had heard him announce his true intentions as he'd raced out of the garage that night, they knew he had planned to tell Paige he loved her – they probably already knew how he felt about her before then anyway, Walter conceded – and they'd both encouraged him, but he felt sure Happy wouldn't be so supportive.

Besides, things had changed since then. Yes, he'd made a fool of himself in Tahoe, but that was months ago now and Tim was no longer around, even though he was still causing trouble. Maybe Happy would understand now? Maybe he should tell her? She always gave him good advice, sometimes better advice than Toby did because she seemed to understand him more than anyone else on the team.

"I… I went to Tahoe to…" he began gingerly. "…to tell Paige that…"

"She's coming!"

Walter leapt to his feet at Happy's frantic cry and looked desperately around the room. He pulled the flash drive from the computer, hoping they had enough data to make sense of as Happy carefully closed the door to the office.

"Closet!" said Walter, nodding towards the corner of the room where a small, oak wardrobe stood in between a coat rack and a filing cabinet.

"Are you kidding me?"

Walter shook his head, grabbed Happy by the arm and the two of them – somehow – squeezed into the tiny piece of furniture just in time.

They held their breath as they listened to the Rear Admiral enter her office. They had no idea what she was doing, they just hoped she didn't need anything from the closet. From what they could make out, she crossed to her desk and opened one of the drawers. Then they heard another noise, but neither of them could determine what it was.

Finally, after what felt like hours, they heard her leave the room again.

Walter hesitantly opened the door and let out a sigh of relief as he confirmed to Happy, with a nod, that they were alone again.

"I'm surprised she didn't hear my heart pounding," said Happy, gasping for air after the confines of their claustrophobic hiding place.

"I did," noted Walter.

"Yeah, well, things were kinda intimate in there, O'Brien," acknowledged Happy. "Bet you wish you'd brought Paige with you on this mission."

Walter gulped hard.

"Oh, come on," said Happy with a sigh, resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to get Walter to open up to her about his feelings for Paige. "Let's go. Just promise me one thing."

"Of course."

"Whatever we find on that flash drive about Tim, go easy on Paige. I can't take any more of this… whatever this is between you two. Understood?"

"Understood," agreed Walter. "And Happy… I know it might not always seem that way to you, but… but I never meant to hurt Paige. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"I know you didn't, Walt, I know."

 _To be continued..._


	12. Chapter 12 - Truths

**-Some truths are revealed and Paige and Walter start communicating... almost.-**

 _ **Apologies for taking so long to write this chapter. I hope it's worth the wait! Please leave a review if you have time, I appreciate each and every one of your comments. Thank you kindly.**_

 **CHAPTER 12.**

"Marnie, please pass the potatoes."

Marnie picked up the dish and handed it to Lydia's outstretched hands without saying a word. She had been silent for most of the meal, despite Lydia's continual attempts to engage her in conversation.

"It's so kind of you to cook for us again this evening, Lydia," said Paige with a smile. "We would've been happy to eat at the hotel."

Paige had reluctantly agreed to stay an extra night in Florida. She hated leaving Ralph for so long even though she knew he was in good hands with Sylvester and Cabe, but Walter felt they were close to uncovering something and none of them really wanted to leave Marnie until they could be sure she was safe, so they'd decided to stay.

"We can run up our Homeland expense account another day," said Toby, shovelling in another mouthful of food.

Lydia was certainly a great cook. Toby glanced sideways at Marnie, but she didn't seem to be enjoying the meal at all. He watched for a moment as the girl pushed half a carrot around her plate without putting it anywhere near her lips.

Lydia caught his eye and she gave a tiny shrug. Toby could see how worried she was.

"Hey, Marnie," he said. "Your Mom showed us a few old photos of you today."

Before they'd left the hospital, Sara had brought out an album full of baby photos and proudly talked Toby and Paige through each and every one. They'd both been struck by just how much she looked like Tim in some of them. Her broad smile and sparkling eyes were so familiar and Paige had found it quite disconcerting.

"You were the cutest kid!" grinned Gary with a mouthful of potatoes.

Marnie shrugged nonchalantly.

"Your Mom's responding well to her new meds," continued Toby. He had advised Doctor Ellis on a few changes to Sara's prescriptions and it was early days, but the new combination seemed to be quite effective.

Marnie shrugged again.

Lydia let out a slow breath. "What's wrong, honey?" she asked. "Tough day at school?"

Marnie nodded. "Just the usual."

Gary suddenly threw down his cutlery and it clattered against the side of his plate, startling everyone. "What did I tell you about bullies?" he exclaimed. "I'm calling the Principal. Hell, I'll call the parents."

"Jeez, Gary," sneered Marnie. "It's just a bunch of bitchy school girls. I can handle them, I can take care of myself."

"Wait," said Walter. "You went to school today? Why?"

Marnie frowned at him. "Because I've already missed, like, a month this year and I want good grades if I'm actually gonna make something of my life."

"Good girl," smiled Happy.

"But… but it's not safe," continued Walter.

"Walter," said Paige, urgently. "I don't think we need to…" she began. Walter had obviously forgotten they were still keeping the news of the truck driver's murder to themselves.

"There's still a chance you could be next!" asserted Walter, interrupting Paige and ignoring Toby's wild gesticulation from the other side of the table.

Lydia narrowed her eyes. "Next for what?" she asked. "Is there something I should know?"

Walter blushed hard when he realised what he'd done. "Oh… oh, um, nothing," he replied unconvincingly.

Marnie got to her feet. "I'm not a kid!" she exclaimed. "Stop keeping things from me! I know there's stuff about my dad you're not telling me and…"

"Relax, Marnie," urged Toby. "This isn't about Tim." He glanced sideways at Walter who was staring at his empty plate.

"Um, it's probably nothing to worry about," began Walter, lifting his head, but avoiding eye contact with anyone around the table. "But the truck driver has been killed. The one who gave you a ride, the one we assume planted the device in your bag. The… the police are investigating it as a homicide. There's a strong possibility of a connection to… to the cyber-attack."

Marnie glared angrily at Walter. "You should've told me," she said quietly. "I went to school today and had to deal with crap from the dumb girls in my class and there could be a psycho out there waiting to kill me!"

Walter nodded. "I…I'm sorry."

Paige nodded and tried to offer Marnie a supportive smile. "Y'know, the truck driver was involved, he knew what he was doing and he was paid for what he did," she said. "You're completely innocent, you were set up just like we were so there's no reason for them to want to… um, to want to hurt you. Right, Toby?"

Toby nodded. "There's no real motive," he agreed. "Unless they just want to eradicate all the links in the chain."

Paige glared at him. "Not helpful, Toby," she hissed.

"Look, like Walt just said, we're sorry," said Happy. "We were just trying to protect you."

Marnie slammed the palms of her hands on the table. "I don't need protecting!" she exclaimed. "I'm not a baby!" Then she stormed off towards her bedroom.

Lydia pushed her chair back from the table. "I should go after her," she said, scowling at Walter. "She doesn't need this."

"Which is why we kept it from her," said Walter, haughtily.

Paige rolled her eyes. "I'll come with you," she said and followed Lydia to Marnie's room.

Gary, who had been quiet for a while suddenly found his voice. "Look, this is probably gonna get me in trouble – again - but I'm with you guys on this," he said, looking around the table from Walter to Happy and Toby. "She didn't need to know, now she's scared as hell for no reason. She's a kid, she was just being used like a pawn in a game. She has no idea who did this, any more than the rest of us."

"Thank you," said Walter, earnestly. "We didn't mean to upset her."

"But you're right," Toby chipped in. "You're gonna be in trouble. Lydia thinks we're scum for keeping secrets."

"Maybe you shouldn't have kept it from me and Lyd?" suggested Gary.

Happy nodded and glanced in the direction of Marnie's room. She sighed. She felt a connection with Marnie and she thought their relationship had been getting stronger. Happy knew the girl needed as many friends as she could get – with her dad absent and her mom's health issues – and Happy hated to think that this one decision might have ruined what they had. Marnie had every right not to trust them now. Part of her wanted to go and talk to Marnie, to try to make her understand that their intentions had been good and not because they thought she wasn't adult enough to handle the information, but she quickly realised Paige was far better at that kind of thing than she was and she was grateful the waitress had followed Lydia.

"Hey," said Toby, softly, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Why don't we make a start on the dishes?"

Happy looked at Walter and Gary who were deep in conversation before nodding, picking up her plate and glass and following her fiancé towards the kitchen.

"Don't worry about Marnie," said Toby as he turned on the tap and began filling the sink with hot water.

Happy shrugged. "I just… I just feel for the kid," she replied. "I spent years without my dad and when I finally found him we connected instantly, it was like we'd known each other our whole lives. I was finally able to understand why he'd left me and I knew he didn't hate me and that meant so much to me. Marnie's dad is Tim 'AWOL' Armstrong and… y'know, I thought Tim was an OK guy. I didn't figure him as the kind of scumbag who'd desert his own daughter. Not to mention what he's doing to Paige right now."

Toby nodded slowly and began washing a plate. "Tim had his character flaws – hell, we all do… except me, of course." He grinned and winked at Happy. "But he sure kept this side of himself well hidden," he continued, his smiled fading. "Even from me."

"I'm gonna call Sly," said Happy. "He should've cracked those redacted files by now. You finish the dishes."

"As you command, Honeybunch," smiled Toby and plunged his hands back into the soapy water.

"Hey, Sly," said Happy as Sylvester answered her call. "Still waiting for… oh… Ralph? What's up with Ralph?"

Toby's head spun round at her words.

"No, Paige can't hear you," continued Happy. "No, Walter's out of earshot too, it's just me and the Doc… OK, I'll put you on loudspeaker."

"Hey, pal," said Toby as Happy held her phone between them. "What's going on?"

" _Ralph and I were just about to start work on those files Walter sent over,"_ came Sylvester's voice. _"But, well, his head just wasn't in the game so I asked him if he was OK and… he's not OK, Toby."_

"He hasn't been himself for a few days," noted Toby with a concerned expression on his face.

"Since before all the Tim crap started," added Happy.

" _I know,"_ agreed Sylvester. " _He's been getting emails from Drew."_

Toby's eyes widened in surprise. "Drew? You mean the Father of the Year? Although I think he should probably hand over his crown to Tim now… That Drew?"

Happy slapped him on the shoulder. "How many other Drew's does Ralph know, Dummy?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

Toby shrugged. "What kind of emails, Sly?" he asked.

" _Nothing weird, at least I don't think so,"_ replied Sylvester. _"But he asked Ralph not to tell Paige they were communicating."_

Toby sighed. "Emotional manipulation," he noted. "He just wants a hold over Ralph. It's a power thing."

"Asshole," hissed Happy. Thinking about Drew made her blood boil, even more than thinking about Tim.

"Totally agree with your analysis here, Darlin'," nodded Toby. "But I'm kinda surprised Ralph kept it from Paige, since when did he listen to Drew over his mom?"

" _I think he was planning on telling her,"_ answered Sylvester. _"But by the time he was ready, Marnie showed up and Paige had gotten herself into a pickle over… y'know… because of The T-Word, so he didn't want to make things worse."_

"Poor kid," said Happy, sadly. Ralph deserved better than Drew Baker for a father, she thought to herself, even if Drew was only his father in the biological sense. "Where is he now?"

" _Cabe took him to Kovelsky's,"_ explained Sylvester. _"I just hope Cabe can calm him down, he was pretty upset when they left. Anyway, that's why I've only just started looking at these files. Sorry, guys."_

"Hey, no sweat," replied Happy. "You had other priorities. Family comes first."

Toby nodded and smiled at her words, but he knew Paige was going to be devastated when she found out the reason Ralph had been keeping secrets from her was because of what was going on with Tim. "Tell Ralphy-Boy not to worry," he said. "I'll break the news to Paige and they can talk properly when we get home tomorrow."

" _Thanks, Toby,"_ said Sylvester. _"I think he'll be relieved. You know how Paige can overreact, especially when it involves Drew."_

"Sure do," nodded Happy, knowingly.

"Call me later if you need anything," added Toby seriously.

" _I will,"_ agreed Sylvester, gratefully. _"And I'll call anyway if I have any luck with these files."_

Happy ended the call and let out a long, slow breath. "Jeez," she said. "Ralph's just a kid, he shouldn't have to deal with this kind of emotional BS."

Toby was about to answer when they heard Paige's voice coming from the living room. They quickly walked out to join her, Walter and Gary. Lydia had not reappeared from Marnie's room, however.

"How's Marnie?" asked Toby.

Paige lifted her head, but said nothing. Her expression said it all.

"Not good," noted Happy.

Paige sighed. "She's pretty mad at us," she said. "Lydia's still trying to talk to her, but we've broken her trust. I don't blame her for hating us… hating me."

"She'll cool off," Gary tried to reassure her. "And I'll try to convince her she's not in danger. The kid's got enough on her plate right now without believing there's some kind of hit out on her."

"Exactly," agreed Paige. "I told her we thought she had enough to worry about already, but…" she trailed off. "Anyway, so in the interests of openness and honesty I… I also told her about Tim."

"Ouch, twist that knife, Paige," winced Toby.

"She deserves to know the truth about her father," insisted Paige.

"The truth?" queried Gary. "What do you mean?"

"Timothy has no interest in becoming acquainted with his daughter," explained Walter in his usual matter-of-fact style.

Paige frowned. "We don't know that he won't change his mind when he's had time to think about it," she insisted.

"He won't change his mind," insisted Happy, rolling her eyes.

Gary shook his head in disgust. "The bastard," he muttered. "Marnie's a great kid, Armstrong doesn't know what he's missing out on. I wish Sara had kept her big mouth shut, but there he was on TV, strutting around like some kinda hero and Sara just had to let the cat outta the bag."

"I'm sorry," said Paige, although she wasn't quite sure what she was apologising for. "You're right, Marnie deserves better than this. I think we should leave now," she added, glancing at Walter. "Tell Marnie… um, just tell her I'm sorry. For everything."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Paige sighed and sat down on the edge of her hotel bed. She wanted to go home. Two nights away from Ralph and for what? She'd messed things up with Marnie and they were no further in figuring out who had carried out the cyber-attack.

Two nights. They'd spent less time away from home on missions in Africa, or Europe.

She glanced at the time on her phone. It was late, but she wasn't tired.

No, that wasn't true, she _was_ tired. Exhausted, in fact, but she couldn't sleep.

She contemplated calling Tim, trying again to persuade him that he should at least meet his daughter, but deep down she knew it would be futile. She couldn't get the image of Marnie's tear-streaked face out of her mind. Marnie had been on an emotional roller-coaster ever since discovering the identity of her father and this evening it had all just come pouring out.

Part of her just wanted to call Tim just to talk to him, just to hear his voice. She wanted to pretend none of this was happening and maybe talk about the weather in Qatar, or the food, or tell him about the new shoes she'd bought the other day. She wanted to talk about normal things that normal couples talked about.

But they weren't a normal couple anymore. They never were, not really, not when she thought about it. Their relationship had grown from nothing but harmless flirting into something much more far too quickly before they'd even really got to know each other properly.

She certainly didn't really know him at all, she realised.

Paige picked up the TV remote control, maybe there would be a boring science documentary on that would send her to sleep?

There wasn't.

Her mouth felt suddenly very dry. She coated her lips with her tongue, but it made no difference.

"Ice," she muttered to herself.

She'd noticed an ice-machine in the foyer earlier and the prospect of a glass of ice-cold water was very appealing at that moment. She slipped her bare feet into her shoes, tied her robe around her waist and grabbed an empty glass before opening the door and looking left and right to make sure no one was coming along the corridor. She'd already removed her make-up and she hated anyone to see her without it, even strangers.

Or Walter.

OK… why had Walter popped into her mind?

Actually Walter was always on her mind lately.

She shook her head, hoping to physically shake Walter O'Brien from her thoughts and, after double-checking that the coast was clear, she stepped out and headed along the corridor.

And bumped straight into Walter.

"Paige!" he exclaimed, grasping at her shoulders to prevent her from toppling backwards.

Paige was speechless. She closed her eyes, hoping she was really asleep in her hotel room after all and any minute now she'd dream a giant cat was walking past, or something equally crazy.

"Are you OK?"

Oh. Not a dream then.

"I... I don't have any make-up on," she said, wishing the first words to tumble from her mouth had been something more intelligent.

As much as she tried not to allow her insecurities to rule her life, sometimes they got the better of her and that little voice in her mind that told her she wasn't naturally pretty was particularly loud tonight. Not as loud as the voice that constantly told her she didn't deserve happiness in her life, but loud enough.

"Oh," replied Walter. His brow furrowed into a confused frown. "I'm not sure of the significance," he admitted.

Paige smiled and immediately relaxed. "It doesn't matter. I was just going to fetch some ice," she explained.

"I was just coming to... to see you," replied Walter.

Paige tensed again. "You were?" It was then she noticed the dark circles under his eyes.

"I couldn't sleep, I... I need to talk to you," he answered her. His palms began to sweat and he classed them together behind his back, hoping Paige would think he was adopting a casual stance despite the intensity of his words. "It's about something Happy said earlier," he explained.

"Walk with me," suggested Paige. "To the ice machine," she clarified.

Her mind was racing. Happy and Walter's friendship was special and Paige trusted the engineer's ability to counsel Walter, but it had been a difficult few days and everyone was on edge and right now Paige couldn't imagine what this might be about.

They talked casually as Paige half-filled her glass with ice, then they headed back to her room.

"I guess I should've asked first - _your place or mine?_ " she laughed, but Walter didn't seem to understand the reference so she unlocked the door and he followed her inside.

Walter watched as Paige opened a bottle of water and emptied the contents over the ice. There was something about the way she carried out basic tasks that he found soothing. She didn't calculate all the possible outcomes in her mind first, she didn't question the efficiency of what she was about to do, just did it and Walter wished he could do the same, but his genius mind would never allow it.

Paige stifled a yawn before sipping at the cool water, welcoming the refreshment as it slipped down her throat.

"I'm sorry, it's late, this can wait until the morning," said Walter, suddenly. It wasn't true at all. He had thought of nothing else since his talk with Happy in Rear Admiral Marchant's office and what he wanted to say to Paige really couldn't wait, but the easiest option right now would have been to leave.

"No, tell me what's on your mind, Walter," Paige urged, sitting herself on the edge of the bed and patting the space beside her. "We're friends, remember? And friends talk to each other, so please."

Walter nodded and sat down beside her. It was now or never and he didn't think he could face the latter option. "I need to ask you about... about Tahoe," he said.

Paige felt her cheeks flush.

"I don't mean the lake itself," continued Walter.

"I know," said Paige with half a smile.

She was trying to keep a cool exterior, but inside she was silently screaming. The last thing she wanted to talk to Walter about was Tahoe. And why would he want to now anyway? Surely he wanted to put those memories behind him as much as she did?

Walter's behaviour the night he had arrived unannounced in Tahoe had deeply upset her and the level of immaturity he'd demonstrated in trying to ruin her weekend with Tim had disappointed her more than she could put into words. It was a side of Walter she found unattractive – probably the only side of him she found unattractive – but it had been hard to accept.

"I hadn't intended for… for you and Timothy… you and _Tim_ to go to Tahoe together," continued Walter, the words tumbling out before he had time to change his mind about saying them. "I wanted to take you myself… I mean, I wanted us to go together, you and me. As friends, that is, although… although…" He closed his eyes. "If I'd asked you, would you..?" He opened his eyes again. "Would you have come with me, I mean?"

Paige was stunned into silence. The Tahoe debacle felt like a lifetime ago, how could she answer his question now?

"Walter, I…" she began, but every answer that she could think of sounded like a lame, cop out. Walter deserved a real answer, he deserved the truth. The trouble was, after everything that had happened since Tahoe, Paige couldn't be certain of the truth anymore.

The truth….

The truth had become lost somewhere. _She_ was lost…

 _Walter…_

A wave of emotion washed over her. She needed to answer him, it was a simple answer, just one word - _yes_ \- but her mouth refused to co-operate.

She was suddenly aware of the tears forming in her eyes.

"I've got something in my eye," she mumbled, half-covering her face with her hand.

"Try pulling your upper eyelid over the lower one," suggested Walter, but Paige was already on her feet and half way to the bathroom.

She slammed the door behind her and slumped against it, cursing herself as her tears began to fall. Of course she'd known about Tahoe already. Deep down she'd known Walter hadn't wanted to send her and Tim away for a romantic weekend, but she'd been so mad at him for completely failing to be honest with her that day – failing to be honest with _himself_ – that she'd taken the jazz festival tickets and gone to Tahoe with Tim… why?

To spite him?

Maybe.

As much as she'd just wanted to spend a normal weekend away with her normal boyfriend, she knew she would never have gone if it hadn't been for Walter's interference.

Now it felt like the biggest mistake of her life.

Her breath came in shuddery gasps as she realised she'd just made a total fool of herself. Her first thoughts were for Walter, he must be so confused right now, sitting alone in her hotel room. That's if he hadn't left already. He didn't get an answer to his question and he would have no idea how to interpret her irrational behaviour.

Paige knew she should pull herself together and go back out there and talk to him. She needed to reassure him somehow that this was _her_ problem, not his.

She took a deep breath, then another, then another.

She wasn't sure how long it took to calm herself down. She used all manner of breathing techniques, while at the same time her mind was rehearsing what she was going to say. Paige knew they should have talked about this a long time ago. If they had she wouldn't be in this mess with Tim now.

Everything would have been so good… it still could.

She stood up, full of determination and opened the bathroom door.

"Walter, I'm sorry," she began, striding out purposefully into the room. "I'm sorry about a lot of things, but… oh…" She trailed off. Her words were falling on deaf ears.

Walter's head was resting on her pillow, his eyes were closed and he was snoring lightly. One arm rested across his chest, the other was by his side.

She must've been in the bathroom longer than she realised.

Paige crossed the room and stood by the bed, watching him sleep for a moment. She knew she should wake him, but he looked so peaceful. For the first time in a long time there was no tension etched across his forehead and she couldn't bring herself to disturb him.

She walked around to the other side of the bed and slowly slipped under the covers beside him, carefully tugging at the corner of the bedspread until it was free and she could drape it over his legs. The room was warm and Walter was fully dressed, but she wanted him to be comfortable.

For a brief moment she wondered if Walter would be mad at her for not waking him up, but that thought soon passed. She desperately wanted to gently place her arm across him, but she resisted. She lay on her side, studying every contour of Walter's face in profile, but within minutes her eyes were closed and she had drifted off to sleep.

 _To be continued..._


	13. Chapter 13 - The Morning After

**-Paige makes Walter very happy, then there's a dramatic development.-**

 ** _As usual, I'm so sorry it's been a while since I posted a new chapter. I've been desperately trying to write, but apparently life has other plans for me! I hope you enjoy this update - please leave a review, if only to let me know you're still with me. Thank you kindly._**

 **CHAPTER 13.**

"Paige... Paige..."

Paige's eye flickered open and it took her a moment to recognise the voice and the knocking that accompanied it.

Toby.

It took her another moment to remember she hadn't spent the night alone.

Walter.

She glanced across the bed to where the genius was still sleeping, taking a second to acknowledge she'd just had the most restful night's sleep she'd had in a long time, even though it would've been nice if it had been a few hours longer. A smile flickered at the corners of her mouth as she wondered if Walter would feel the same when he woke up. He certainly hadn't looked as peaceful and calm for weeks...

All because of her...

Her smile instantly faded, but her moment of self-loathing was interrupted by more knocking.

"Paige! Wakey wakey! I need to talk to you, it's important." Toby's voice was louder this time.

Paige panicked and slipped out of the bed as carefully as she could. Thankfully neither her movement, nor the increasingly urgent knocking on the door appeared to disturb Walter.

Paige opened the door just enough to press her face into the gap and glare at a slightly taken aback Toby.

"Toby, sshhh!" she hissed. "What time is it anyway?"

"Late enough for you not to have bags the size of Happy's toolbox under your eyes," replied Toby, mirroring the quiet tone of her response. "Exactly how much sleep have you had? And why are we whispering?" he added, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Because I don't want to wake anyone," snapped Paige, keeping her voice low. It wasn't a lie, but the last thing she wanted was for Toby to know she and Walter had spent the night in the same bed, even though it had been entirely innocent and in all likelihood Walter didn't even know himself yet.

"There's something I need to talk to you about," continued Toby.

He wanted to tell her about Ralph before breakfast so she could calm down enough before she had to face the others. They didn't know if they'd get any further with the investigation today, but they'd decided they were definitely flying home this afternoon one way or the other and Toby had promised Ralph - via Sylvester – that he would break the news about Drew's emails before his Mom got back.

"Can't it wait?" asked Paige. "I'm really not..." but before she could finish her sentence, Toby pushed open the door just enough so he could see over her shoulder.

"No it can't, it's..." he began. Then his eyebrows shot up so high they were almost hidden under the rim of his hat. "Oh!" he exclaimed.

He'd known Paige was keeping something from him from the moment she'd opened the door, of course, but he hadn't expected this.

Paige sighed and reluctantly opened the door all the way, allowing him to enter the room.

"Don't," she said in a low, warning tone. "I don't need any smart-Alec remarks from you."

"What _do_ you need from me?" he asked, a grin spreading across his face as he spoke. "Morning after pill?"

"Toby!" She exclaimed as loudly as she dared. "This is not what it looks like."

He knew it wasn't, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to enjoy teasing Paige about it. He opened his mouth, still undecided which of the many quips he'd just thought of he should start with, but at that moment Walter stirred and rolled his head to one side.

Paige froze, her eyes wide with panic. "Bathroom!" she hissed and before Toby could react she'd bundled him into the tiny room and closed the door.

Paige closed her eyes. This had to be a dream. One of those silly dreams where lots of wildly bizarre things happen and you have no control over them.

Like shutting Toby in the bathroom.

Or sleeping with Walter.

That sounded very wrong... or very right.

Paige opened her eyes again. Definitely not a dream.

Walter stirred again and this time his eyes opened.

"Hey," said Paige, trying her best to sound as if this was just another normal morning. "You'd better go change, Sly must have some news for us by now about those documents," she added, hoping he would leave quickly.

She didn't trust Toby to stay quiet for long, in fact she was surprised he hadn't already made his presence known. Maybe shutting him in the bathroom wasn't the best idea she'd ever had, but she didn't want him to make Walter feel any more awkward than she knew he would already be feeling.

"Oh... um... Paige," he mumbled, sitting himself up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Is it... is it morning? Have I...? D...d...did we...?"

"It's OK," began Paige, in her most reassuring tone. "We both fell asleep, that's all. Now come on, move."

Walter had a rather bemused look on his face as he put his shoes on and got to his feet.

"Move!" urged Paige, with more desperation in her voice than she'd planned.

Walter walked towards the door, with Paige close behind. He reached for the door handle, but stopped short of touching it, instead turning back to face Paige. "Thank you for... for..." but he wasn't sure how to finish his sentence.

Paige smiled warmly. "You're welcome," she said. "Oh and Walter," she added as he reached again for the door handle. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"My answer to your question," she tried to explain. "If you'd asked me to go with you to the jazz festival... to Tahoe... I would've said yes."

Walter opened and closed his mouth, but he had no idea how to respond. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile and then he nodded silently before leaving the room.

Paige closed the door behind him and let out a long, slow sigh. She wasn't sure how he'd process what she'd just said, but his immediate reaction had appeared favourable – to her great relief – and it felt good to have answered him honestly. She glanced towards the bathroom and pressed her lips together.

"Let's get this over with," she muttered to herself and she strode across the room and opened the bathroom door.

Toby was sitting on the toilet. For one brief - and slightly terrifying - moment she thought he was making use of the facilities, but then she realised his trousers were, thankfully, not around his ankles.

"You can come out now," she said.

"Oh, but I was enjoying the ambience," retorted Toby with a smirk. "And the entertainment was to die for!"

Paige sighed as Toby walked out of the bathroom. "You were eavesdropping."

"Of course!" grinned Toby. "Praise be to the god of budget hotels with cardboard walls."

"He came to talk to me, he fell asleep, I didn't want to disturb him, that's all," said Paige. "Now, can we drop it?"

"For now," agreed Toby, to Paige's surprise. "I actually need to talk to you about something too, but if we wind up sleeping together just remember my wife-to-be wields power tools."

Paige frowned at him. "Just tell me whatever it is you came here to tell me and go," she snapped. "I need take a shower."

"Why don't we sit down?" suggested Toby.

The sudden change in his voice from wisecracking Toby, to serious Doctor Curtis made her gasp.

"It's OK, don't panic," Toby tried to reassure her. "It's about Ralph."

"What!"

"Don't overreact, he's fine, but there's something you need to know."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Walter breezed into the breakfast room at the hotel with a smile on his face. He couldn't help himself, she would've said yes.

She would've gone with him.

If only he'd asked her…

His smile faltered, but didn't disappear. He knew he'd been a moron for giving those jazz festival tickets to Paige and Tim. He'd known for a long time. He also knew he'd messed up after following her all the way to Tahoe. He had no idea why, after driving through the night with the intention of telling Paige in an adult way how he truly felt about her, the nearer he got to Tahoe the more immature his plan had become.

He couldn't explain his own behaviour to himself and he was too afraid to ask Toby, so he had come to terms with it – sort of.

Now all that mattered was that she would've said yes.

"Morning, One Ninety Seven."

Walter knew Toby would be reading his expression right now. For a moment he panicked, trying to hide his elated emotional state with a sneer, but he knew his efforts were futile.

And then he realised he didn't care. He wanted Toby to know. Hell, he wanted the whole world to know!

She would've said yes!

"Sleep well?" asked Toby with what Walter interpreted as a neutral look on his face.

Unless he was misreading… wait, did he know? Did Toby know Walter had spent the night in Paige's bed?

No, not _Paige's_ bed. Just _a bed_ in a hotel room.

With Paige.

Oh dear. He wasn't ready for a conversation about it with his smug friend.

At that moment Paige joined them at the table.

"Hey, everyone," she smiled.

Walter avoided eye contact. They hadn't talked about it… they needed to talk about it. Didn't they? Maybe they didn't? It hadn't meant anything, after all.

Had it…?

He had been so wrapped up in his delight about Tahoe – or what might have been in Tahoe – that he hadn't really thought too deeply about their sleeping arrangements. Why hadn't she woken him? Was that normal for non-genius friends?

He finally glanced up at Paige and attempted a smile, but his face fell as he realised she'd been crying.

Oh god, what had he done to her?

Walter couldn't help but notice Toby gently patting her forearm supportively as she sat down. He knew. Toby already knew… something.

Walter's heart was pounding now.

"P…Paige?" he stammered, concern etched across his brow. "Are you… is everything….?"

Paige let out a sigh. "I'm OK, Walter," she replied, glancing briefly at Toby. "It's Ralph… he's fine, but… look, I don't really want to talk about it, OK?"

"Ralph? What's wrong with Ralph?" pressed Walter, with a mixture of relief that this wasn't about last night after all and sudden panic about the young genius he loved more than he could put into words.

"O'Brien!" snapped Happy, with a scowl. "Pretty sure Paige just said she doesn't want to talk about it. Now, is there a reason you're clutching those comms links in your hand?"

"What?" Walter glanced down at his right fist. He'd completely forgotten he was carrying the devices. "Oh, yes, Sly!" he exclaimed, opening his palm and offering an earpiece to each of them. "I spoke to him briefly, he has news."

"Sly?" said Toby, slipping an earpiece into his right ear. "You there, pal?"

" _Yes, yes,"_ came the reply. The urgency in his voice was palpable. " _The documents, I decoded them. Well, most of them. Enough, I hope. It was… it was… um, is Paige there?"_

"Yes, Sly," Paige replied, somewhat hesitantly. "Why? What's wrong? Is Ralph there?"

" _Paige, it's five a.m. here,"_ Sylvester reminded her. _"Ralph spent the night at Cabe's. I hope that's OK… I mean, did Toby talk to you?"_

"Um, yeah," replied Paige.

Walter glanced at Paige. So even Sylvester knew about whatever was happening with Ralph. And Cabe. And if Toby knew that meant Happy knew as well. So he was the only one still in the dark. The realisation hit him hard. "The documents, Sly!" he snapped, unable to keep the frustration from his voice.

" _Oh, right, um… um…"_ stammered Sylvester.

"Spit it out, pal," urged Toby.

" _Ok…"_ Sylvester paused for a moment. _"I'm not sure what it all means yet, but Gary's injuries – the reason he was forced out of the Navy – they were caused by… by Tim. Some kind of fight at the base after a training exercise. Not the first fight they'd had either, apparently. The details aren't clear, but it was all covered up."_

"Covered up?" repeated Happy, puzzled. "Why?"

" _Because Tim was charged with misconduct and he should've been marched off the base at the first opportunity,"_ Sly began to explain. _"But he wasn't. They decided he was too valuable an asset to let him go. He was top of all his classes and he'd already been fast tracked to join the S.E.A.L.S. They figured he had potential, they said he was a – and I quote – 'A leader of men'. So some big shot Admiral let him stay and they redacted all the court martial documentation."_

Happy almost spat out her coffee. "Even ignoring the misogynistic quote, that sucks!"

Walter's face was stoic. Tim was a self-confessed bully. He'd admitted as much when they were in Ireland for Megan's memorial. Did Paige know? Walter hadn't said anything to her at the time because he knew she would've taken it as just another attempt to turn her against Tim.

But now Tim had managed to do that all by himself… hadn't he?

Walter glanced at Paige. She hadn't said anything yet, but what could she say? Surely she couldn't continue to defend him… could she?

" _One other piece of information that you need to know,"_ came Sylvester's voice over the comms. _"The Admiral in charge of the disciplinary hearing is now retired, but his son works for Naval intelligence at the base. Could be nothing, but…"_

"Could be something," Happy finished his sentence for him.

"Especially if he knows we've been sniffing around," added Toby, seriously. "If this cover up comes to light, his father's reputation's at stake here. We should get back to the base."

"And do what?" asked Walter. "No, we need to talk to Gary. He could've told us all about this, but he's deliberately kept it from us. Why would he do that?"

"Embarrassment?" offered Toby. "Or any number of other innocent reasons… or because he's out for revenge. Makes a lot of sense."

"Did you pick up on anything when we were talking to him?" asked Paige.

Toby shook his head and pressed his lips together. "We weren't asking the right questions," he replied.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Less than ten minutes later, Happy pulled up at the side of the road outside Lydia and Gary's building. Walter was the first one out of the vehicle and the four of them raced towards the front door.

As they got closer, they could see the door was open. Walter stopped in his tracks and held his arms outstretched to stop the others from proceeding any further.

"Either the A/C broke," began Toby. "Or they left in a hurry."

"I think we should approach with caution," Walter said in a low voice.

" _I agree!"_ added Sylvester over the comms.

Happy strode to the front of the group and slowly peered around the door, but she couldn't see anyone inside, or any obvious signs of trouble. She turned back to Walter and shrugged.

Walter nodded to Paige. "Stay here," he ordered.

"Why?" asked Paige, indignantly.

"Because… Ralph," replied Walter. "We don't know what he's capable of. Gary, that is."

"Maybe I'll wait out here too," suggested Toby, nervously. He hadn't detected any violent tendencies in Gary over the past couple of days, but at that moment he decided it was maybe best not to take any chances.

Happy, apparently, didn't agree with him. She rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm before marching in through the front door.

Walter and Paige followed, with Walter calling out first Gary's name, then Lydia's, but there was no reply.

Paige and Toby exchanged a worried glance and for a moment Paige wished she'd waited outside after all.

"Something's not right here," she said, ominously and she wrapped her arms protectively around herself.

" _Don't say that!"_ came Sylvester's voice.

"Paige is right," said Walter with a nod. He always trusted Paige's gut feelings, they'd got the team out of trouble on more than one occasion. "We should check to see if anything's been disturbed," he added and they each ran off into a different room.

" _Be careful, gang!"_ This time it was Cabe's voice. It was still early in the morning, but he and Ralph had just arrived at the garage.

Seconds later Happy's voice broke the eerie silence. "Doc!" she yelled. "Get in here!"

Before she'd taken another breath, Toby had raced towards the sound of her voice. Walter and Paige were right behind him as they ran into the bedroom to find Happy on her knees. Paige gasped at the sight of Lydia lying motionless on the floor in front of her. Her face was badly bruised and blood trickled from a gash on her left cheek and Walter quickly described the scene to Cabe and Sylvester.

Happy looked up as Toby knelt beside her. "I... I..." she stammered as Toby checked Lydia's pulse.

"She's alive," Toby announced with relief. He quickly checked her injuries before rolling her into the recovery position.

"Blood," whispered Happy, swallowing hard to keep down her nausea.

Toby flashed a brief, but supportive smile at his wife-to-be. "It's OK," he said and Happy nodded and got to her feet.

She pulled a handful of tissues from a box on the dressing table and passed them to Toby who used them to stem the flow of blood from the cut on her face.

"Lydia," he called, gently shaking her shoulder. "Lydia, can you hear me?"

Lydia moaned quietly and her eyelids twitched, but she didn't seem to have the strength to open them.

"Oh, thank god," said Paige and she clutched at Walter's arm as Toby continued to tend to the injured woman.

"Easy, take it easy," he urged as Lydia slowly began to regain consciousness.

She blinked deeply as her eyes adjusted to the early morning sunlight flooding through the window and, with Toby's help, she pushed herself to a sitting position.

"Gary..." she said in a croaky voice.

Walter crouched beside her. "Did Gary do this to you?" he asked. "Why? Did he tell you about Tim? Where is he now? And where's Marnie? Is she safe?"

"Hey, Walt," began Toby with a disapproving frown. "Why don't we save the interrogation until after the concussion wears off a little?"

"It's OK," said Lydia, summoning enough strength to speak. "Gary didn't do this... it was two men. There was shouting, then they hit him, then... then they hit me."

"Did you recognise them?" asked Paige.

"No," replied Lydia. Then her eyes widened as one of Walter's previous questions registered in her foggy mind. "Marnie!" she exclaimed. "She was here!"

Happy looked hopefully at Paige, then Walter and then Toby, but they all shook their heads, confirming her worst fear. "She's not now," she said, bluntly.

"No... no..." said Lydia, the words catching in her throat.

"It's OK," said Toby, reassuringly. "We'll find them."

"How?" asked Happy. "We don't know who these thugs were, or where they went."

" _I might know,"_ came Sylvester's voice. _"I hacked into the local traffic cameras. A green truck just ran five red lights and guess where it's headed."_

"Ooh, a guessing game! How many letters?" asked Toby, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Just tell us, Sly!" yelled Happy, her fragile temper at breaking point.

There was a brief pause before Sylvester replied _. "West Palm Beach Naval Base."_

 _To be continued…_


	14. Chapter 14 - Rescue and Recovery

**\- The team race to find Marnie and Gary -**

 ** _This is the penultimate chapter of this story, with one final chapter to come - hopefully very soon! Thank you to everyone who has followed this story so far, I hope you enjoy this chapter. All reviews are very welcome, thank you kindly!_** **  
**

 **CHAPTER 14.**

Walter leapt to his feet. "C'mon," he said, urgently.

"Someone needs to stay here with Lydia," said Toby.

"No!" exclaimed Lydia, pushing Toby away and trying to stand. "I'm coming with you."

Toby hastily grabbed her by the arm to stop her falling over. "I think that's a really bad idea, you have a head injury," he said.

"But Gary's in trouble," she replied. "He's my husband, I love him. He's a jerk sometimes and I don't know what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into this time, but I still love him." She wiped a sudden stray tear from her bruised face. "And what am I supposed to tell Sara if anything happens to Marnie? Please, let me come with you."

Walter looked at Toby for a confirmation, but all Toby could do was shrug, before nodding reluctantly. Lydia's heartfelt plea was genuine and it wouldn't do her any good to stay here worrying. Besides, they couldn't really afford for any of the team to stay behind with her and they didn't have time to waste taking her to a hospital which is where she really needed to be.

"OK," he said. "But I'm keeping a close eye on you."

Minutes later they were in the car and Happy drove as fast as she could towards the Navy base. Lydia was struggling to focus on Walter as he explained about Gary's history with Tim while Toby put a makeshift dressing over the cut on her face.

Their Homeland IDs got them through the main gate, just as they had before, but the security desk was a different matter. Walter knew the cloned entry tags he and Happy had used the day before were only good for one day, so they were no use now. Instead, they quickly realised they'd have to try to talk their way in.

"Listen to me," pleaded Walter for the third time. "Lives are at risk. Civilian lives. Now if you'll just let me access your systems, I may be able to locate them then I'll simply direct your people and I won't even have to enter the building."

The male security guard sighed. "Do I look like a moron, Mr O'Brien?" he asked.

Toby opened his mouth to answer, but Happy's elbow in his ribs stopped him just in time before he got them all arrested.

"Sir," began Paige, in the calmest voice she could muster. "If you'll just call Rear Admiral Marchant, she'll vouch for us. Please hurry."

The female security guard rolled her eyes and picked up the handset on her desk. "This should be fun," but she didn't get chance to make the call as Marchant walked round the corner at that very moment.

"Main gate told me you guys were back," she said. "Haven't had chance to look at those files for you yet, but…"

"There's no time for that now," Walter interrupted her and he quickly explained why they were there.

Marchant frowned. "Are you telling me my personnel are involved in all this?" she asked.

"Yes!" exclaimed Happy, rapidly losing her patience.

"I know you don't want to believe it," added Toby, with empathy in his voice. "But I also know you don't want to put innocent lives at risk. People are in danger, let us help."

Marchant thought for a moment. "I'm taking a huge risk here," she said. "But if Cabe Gallo trusts you, then… then so do I." She glanced at the two security guards. "Let them in, that's an order."

"Thank you," smiled Paige.

"Wait!" exclaimed the female guard.

"I said, that's an order!" retorted Marchant.

"No, you don't understand," replied the guard. She was frowning at the small monitor on her desk. "Someone just used your codes to access Bessie."

"Who, or what is Bessie?" asked Toby.

"She's our mini-sub, we use her for training," explained Marchant. "We'd better get down to the tank. No one else has my codes." She looked at the guard with concern. "Diaz, get a team down there, now!"

"The tank?" queried Paige as they began to follow her to the nearest stairwell.

"A tank of water for the submarine, I assume?" offered Walter.

"Yes," confirmed Marchant, picking up speed as she descended the stairs. "We use her to train our personnel. The tank is designed to recreate dangerous, underwater emergency situations."

"Not good," noted Happy.

Toby had to slow his pace as Lydia was struggling to keep up. "You could rest here?" he suggested.

"No," replied Lydia with determination. "I don't understand what's going on, but I can't…. I can't…" but she couldn't finish her sentence, as her head started to spin.

"OK, steady," urged Toby. "We're gonna take a breather. Guys!" he yelled. "We'll catch you up!"

Lydia reluctantly admitted defeat and Toby helped her to sit on a step. "If anything happens…"

"Just relax," urged Toby. "Catch your breath."

"I knew something was wrong with Gary," admitted Lydia. "He's been moody lately, not himself. I just figured it was… y'know, stress, I guess. His health, money worries, everything with Sara and Marnie… he loves that kid, we both do. He'll do anything for her."

"Did you ask him what was wrong?" asked Toby.

"We don't really talk like that," replied Lydia.

Toby saw a deep sadness in her eyes and under different circumstances he'd have pushed her to open up and talk about it, but right now was not the time or the place. Instead he offered her a supportive smile and she smiled back, gratefully.

"Did you know about what went down with Tim?" asked Toby.

Lydia slowly shook her head. "No," she admitted. "I didn't know Gary back then. He wasn't one of the crowd Sara and I hung out with. He wasn't one of the guys that… y'know, the guys that wanted to hook up with girls. I had no idea he was training at the same time as Tim. I wish he'd told me."

"We don't all the details yet," replied Toby. "But I'd say whatever happened with Tim sixteen years ago, Gary still carries it with him. It affects him every day. He's tried to block it out, that's why he's never talked about it."

Toby allowed Lydia a moment to settle her thoughts as much as she could.

"Are you ready to move?" he asked eventually.

"I can't stay here while they're in trouble," said Lydia. She took a deep breath and got to her feet. "When Marnie ran away, we knew she'd be OK, we knew she'd come back," she continued as Toby took her by the elbow and they began walking down the rest of the stairs. "We didn't worry. I guess we should have, knowing what we do now about all of this, but we didn't. She's so independent, so strong. Just like Sara was before she got sick."

"Hey, Sara's still pretty tough from what I've seen," said Toby. "Her illness doesn't change that."

"I know," replied Lydia, quietly and she fell silent as they hurried along the whitewashed corridor.

Following the signs to the tank, they quickly found the control room. The room was small, but brightly lit. A large desk took up an entire wall and there was an array of monitors and controls beeping and flashing in front of them.

Paige looked round as they entered. "Everything OK?" she asked and Toby nodded.

He helped Lydia to a chair before turning back to Paige. "What's happening?" he asked. "Where's Hap?" He could see Walter furiously tapping keys on a keyboard, getting more and more frustrated as he worked, but there was no sign of his wife-to-be.

"We think Marnie and Gary are trapped in the sub," explained Paige. "It's at the bottom of the tank and we don't have control, or communication with them. Everything's been locked out. Happy's out there trying to access the manual override, but it's been sabotaged and Walter's trying to establish a link from here."

"This should never have happened," said Rear Admiral Marchant, apologetically. "We have security protocols to prevent this."

"This is an inside job," explained Toby. "Most likely with expert outside help. These people knew what they were doing."

"But why?" asked Marchant. "I don't understand what this is about?"

"I'm in!" yelled Walter, suddenly, before Toby could offer Marchant any explanation.

Everyone spun round. "I have the monitoring system back online, but no communication yet," he clarified. "As far as I can tell all the sub's internal systems are operating within normal parameters," said Walter. "They're seventy-five feet down, is that the bottom of the tank?"

"Yes," confirm Marchant. "It's one of the deepest training tanks in North America."

"Happy?" Walter called out. "Any luck with the manual override? We need to get that sub back to the surface."

" _Y'don't say,"_ came Happy's sarcastic reply over the comms. " _I'm doing my best, boss, but I'm trying to fashion spare parts out of a pile of junk and these Navy engineers are cramping my style with their dumb rules and crappy protocols."_

Walter turned to Marchant. "Your people are hindering progress."

Marchant picked up her radio and ordered her engineers to back off. Paige couldn't help but smile as she imagined the slightly smug grin on Happy's face at that moment.

"Sly, how close are we to getting the communication system back online, pal?" asked Toby.

" _I'm patched in,"_ Sylvester answered over the comms link. _"But I can't seem to… Ralph, anything?"_

"Ralph!" exclaimed Paige at the mention of her son. "Are you OK?"

" _Busy, Mom,"_ came Ralph's brusque reply.

Paige bit her lip hard. People were in danger and Ralph was helping, like he always did. Marnie and Gary needed him, they needed his genius mind, but right now she needed her little boy. She needed to tell him that no matter what else was going on in her life, he would always be her number one priority. Always. He could talk to her about anything, whenever he needed her she would be there for him. She had to make sure he understood that.

Paige's thoughts were interrupted by her son's voice again.

" _Walter, look at this, do you recognise the patterns in the code?"_

Walter glanced across to the second screen. "Yes!" He exclaimed. "Good catch, Ralph, nice work." He spun round and addressed the others. "Whoever coded this, whoever cut off communication with the sub, it was the same person who programmed the portable device, the one that was planted in Marnie's bag to gain access to our systems back at the garage!"

Before anyone had time to digest that information, Ralph's voice came over their comms again.

" _I've done it!" h_ e announced. _"You should be able to talk to the sub now."_

Paige beamed proudly and her smile grew even wider as she caught Walter doing the same.

Walter leaned forward and spoke into the microphone on the desk. "Gary? Marnie? Can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Lydia was on her feet now and she clutched at Paige's arm.

"It's Walter, can you hear me?"

" _W…Walter?"_

There was an audible gasp of relief at the sound of Marnie's voice.

"Marnie!" Walter exclaimed. "Are you both OK?"

" _Um… I'm OK, but Gary's hurt. He hit his head, he's unconscious."_

Toby grabbed the microphone from Walter.

"Marnie, it's Toby. Tell me what's going on."

" _He fell and whacked his head when those guys shoved us in here. He's breathing, I put him in the recovery position. He was kinda in and out for a few minutes, but now I can't wake him up. You gotta get us out of here! Please!"_

"It's OK, we're working on that right now," Toby replied in a reassuring tone. "Won't be long. I need you to stay calm, OK? Just tell me if anything changes down there."

Toby muted the microphone and turned to Walter. "We need to move this along, Walt," he said, seriously. "Gary was conscious and now he's not, that means his condition is deteriorating. He could have a haematoma or, worse, he's actively haemorrhaging. Either way, clock's ticking."

Paige slipped her arm around Lydia. "We'll have them out as soon as we can," she said and Lydia nodded. "I know what you're going through," continued Paige, with empathy. "Ralph was kidnapped at Christmas, I felt so helpless and Walter's always putting himself in danger…" but she trailed off.

Why had she mentioned Walter? Lydia's husband and the girl she loved like a daughter were in danger and Paige had related by talking about her son and Walter.

Walter. Not Tim.

Paige took a deep breath. She didn't have time to think about the wider implications of why her mind had gone straight to Walter. Of course it was obvious why, but…

" _Walt, we're done, mechanism's working again."_

Happy's voice broke the anxious silence.

" _Raising the sub now."_

The next few minutes were a rush of activity. Walter, Toby, Paige, Lydia and Rear Admiral Marchant raced out of the control room and met Happy and the two engineers on the long metal gantry that stretched across the water from one side of the tank to the other. The whirring of machinery echoed around the huge room and Paige had to shout as she gave Cabe and Sylvester a running commentary of events as they unfolded.

The small, yellow, mini sub broke the surface of the water just as a Navy medic arrived with a stretcher. "There's an ambulance on the way," the medic announced as she prepared the equipment she'd brought with her.

Happy and Walter quickly opened the hatch and they both reached in to help Marnie climb out. Toby led her back along the gantry to safety as soon as she was on her feet. She was tearful and trembling, but unhurt and she ran into Lydia's arms.

Toby turned back to see Walter dropping through the hatch into the sub with one of the engineers and by the time he'd run back to join them, Happy and the other engineer were hauling Gary's unconscious body through the hatch.

Toby winced at the large, purple bruise on the side of the man's head. Within minutes he and the medic had him stabilised and everyone headed outside to the waiting ambulance.

"We'll meet you at the hospital, Toby," said Walter as Gary was loaded into the ambulance and Toby nodded as he climbed in with Lydia and Marnie.

Rear Admiral Marchant stood in stony silence as the vehicle sped away. Eventually she turned to Walter. "I have no idea what's going on," she admitted.

"We're not entirely sure of the details," began Walter. "But we believe it has to do with Timothy Armstrong and… and one of your Lieutenants whose father was… was involved in a cover up fifteen years ago and…." but then he stopped and his face fell.

He turned to Happy.

"We've been idiots," he said, as the realisation hit him. "This… all this with the… the submarine, it was a distraction."

He turned back to Marchant.

"Marnie and Gary weren't supposed to be in… in danger. Gary's accident wasn't planned. All the time we've been rescuing them, the culprits will have been erasing evidence. Sly?"

" _I'm here, Walter."_

"What can you tell me?" asked Walter.

" _Not a lot right now,"_ replied Sylvester with a sigh. _"But I'm still into their systems, I'll see what I can get from running a trace."_

Walter let out a grunt of frustration. He'd allowed himself to be distracted by all the drama of the morning and now they'd given the criminals the opportunity to get away with what they'd done. He still hadn't fitted all the pieces of the puzzle together and if Gary didn't pull through the mystery might well go unsolved.

And Tim would get away with… well, with whatever he'd done. And Walter couldn't bear the thought of that.

"Walter," said Paige, tenderly resting her hand on his arm. "We should get to the hospital."

Walter looked at Paige, his emotions were churning in his head and he was desperate to reach out to her to help him process how he was feeling… but of course she was the last person he could talk to.

If only Tim Armstrong hadn't walked into their lives that fateful day last year… and ruined everything.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Why are the cops still here?"

Lydia slipped her hand into Marnie's as they sat in the waiting room at the hospital. "You know why, honey," she answered, her voice quavering.

"Gary's just had brain surgery!" exclaimed Marnie, angrily. "Can't they leave him alone?"

Lydia drew a breath. "You heard the doctors, he's going to be fine," she replied. "So now he's under arrest. He's… he's…" but she couldn't finish her sentence.

Marnie snatched her hand from Lydia's and glared at Walter. "I thought you said they'd caught those two guys? The ones who kidnapped us? I thought you said Sylvester led the cops right to them?"

"Yes, he did," Walter confirmed. "As we suspected, it was Lieutenant Shields, the son of Admiral Shields…"

"The guy who was involved in the cover up with my dad before I was born?" asked Marnie.

"The one and only," nodded Toby. "And his crooked pal."

"But what's this got to do with Gary?" Marnie's composure was beginning to waiver. "They kidnapped him too. I don't understand any of this!"

"Hey, let's all try to stay calm," urged Toby. "Gary's recovering from surgery. We'll know more when he's conscious and talking."

Lydia turned to Marnie. "I know he didn't mean to hurt you," she said.

Marnie nodded. "I know," she replied.

Just then a nurse poked his head into the room. The same nurse had been in and out of the room for the past three hours keeping them updated and Lydia sat upright as he appeared again.

"He's awake," confirmed the nurse, to the relief of everyone in the room. "He's doing so well, Lydia. He's talking, he wants to see you."

Lydia leapt to her feet and almost tripped over in her hurry to follow the nurse out of the room.

Marnie slumped back in the uncomfortable chair and folded her arms across her chest.

"Hey," said Toby, gently. "I know this can't be easy for you."

"I'm fine," snapped Marnie.

Toby and Paige exchanged a worried glance. Of course Marnie wasn't fine at all, she was scared and angry and confused. She wanted answers, they all did.

"Do you have any questions about Gary's surgery?" asked Toby.

"Nope," she replied. "The surgeon already explained it to us. It was a small bleed, they stopped it, no obvious signs of long term brain damage," she said, without a hint of emotion.

Toby nodded. Those were the facts, but he was worried that Marnie was disassociating herself from the situation. He needed to get her to talk.

"Must've been pretty scary," Toby prompted. "Those guys, I mean. Taking you to the base, the submarine… we don't know all the answers yet, but if you have any questions about what happened…"

Marnie didn't reply.

"It's OK to be scared," added Toby.

Marnie closed her eyes. He was right, she did have questions, so many questions, but she didn't know where to start. And she was really scared. Not scared for her immediate safety like she'd been in the submarine earlier, this was different. She knew this whole mess had something to do with Tim – with her dad – and she knew Gary had been involved, but she had no idea what it all meant and how it would affect her life and her future.

Paige moved along one seat so she was sitting in the chair next to Marnie. "Hey, I'm scared too, y'know," she said.

Paige briefly looked to Toby for encouragement and he nodded. She felt so much sympathy for Marnie and she wanted to help the girl, so if opening herself up was the only way to do it, then Paige knew that's what she had to do.

"I don't know what any of this means for my relationship with… with Tim," continued Paige, suddenly wishing Walter and Happy weren't in the room. She was committed now, though, so she had to continue. "He's so far away right now and I can't talk to him properly. I trusted him and you trusted Gary and it's not easy when you find out something about someone that you don't want to believe is true. It hurts and you don't know what to do to make that pain go away."

Walter lifted his head. "You end the relationship," he said, bluntly.

Happy glared at him. "Not now, O'Brien," she snapped.

"Is… is Gary going to prison?" asked Marnie in a quiet voice.

"I guess that depends on exactly what his involvement is in this whole mess," replied Paige.

Before Marnie had time to think any more, the door opened and the nurse appeared again. "Marnie?" he said. "Gary's asking for you."

Marnie turned to Paige. "I want to see him," she said. "But… will you come with me? Please?"

Paige smiled. "Of course," she said.

Gary was hooked up to monitors and had a large bandage around his head, but Paige was surprised to see how alert he looked as she and Marnie entered the room. Lydia clutched his hand tightly and turned her head to acknowledge them.

"Hey, sweetheart," said Gary, smiling at Marnie.

"Hey," replied Marnie, but she didn't smile.

Gary closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I'm sorry for all of this. For getting you mixed up in… in…."

"In what?" snapped Marnie. "What did you do?"

"No one was supposed to get hurt," Gary tried to explain. "Except for him… except for Armstrong."

"Tim?" said Paige.

Gary opened his eyes. "You have no idea…" he began, but he trailed off.

Lydia squeezed his hand. "You don't need to do this now," she urged.

"I do," insisted Gary and he turned his head slightly to stare intently at Paige. "Stay away from him," he said and Paige was taken aback by the look in his eyes. "He hurts people… and he doesn't care. He ruined my life," continued Gary. "If I hadn't met Lydia again, I don't know where I'd be now. Every opportunity he had to hurt me, to humiliate me… Physically, mentally…"

"No, he's changed," insisted Paige.

"Don't be fooled by him like Sara was sixteen years ago," replied Gary. "When she told us Armstrong was Marnie's father, I… I had to do something. Marnie, you deserve so much better than him. And I… I deserved better than drifting around from dead-end job to dead-end job, with a gammy knee… it's all his fault! And there he was parading around on TV like a goddamn hero!"

"What did you do?" asked Marnie. She tightened her grip on Paige's hand, afraid to hear his answer.

"I've kept in touch with a couple of the guys," Gary explained. "Armstrong bullied a lot of people, not just me. We hatched a plan, then Shields got wind of it – he's Navy Intelligence, I guess we shouldn't have been surprised – and he didn't want anyone to find out his father had covered up the evidence. Y'know, pushed Armstrong through to the SEALS when they should've sent him packing after what he did to me. Shields got some dodgy Chinese tech people involved, I asked a couple of my old pals from my truck driving days to keep you safe and…"

"And you used me to frame Tim?" asked Marnie in disbelief. "You wanted to make it look as though he was the one who hacked into Scorpion!"

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," said Gary. "Please, it got out of hand. I didn't know it would end like this!"

Marnie couldn't face him any more as the realisation set in. She turned and ran out of the door, racing past the two surprised police officers who were standing guard.

Lydia looked at Paige with pleading eyes and Paige nodded silently before heading after Marnie.

She found her at the end of the corridor, slumped on the floor, sobbing into her hands.

"Hey," said Paige, gently.

"I hate him! I hate Gary!" exclaimed Marnie, looking at Paige with her tearstained face.

"No you don't," replied Paige, wrapping her arm around her. "He made a mistake and in time you'll…"

"I do!" insisted Marnie. "And I hate Tim Armstrong!"

 _To be continued..._


	15. Chapter 15 - Epilogue

**-Loose ends are tied and Paige finally breaks up with Tim, but it takes a while.-**

 _ **Well here it is, the concluding chapter. I always said this story would be canon compliant so this chapter includes a couple of time jumps, with the final part taking place after the events of S03 E18 - 'Don't Burst My Bubble'. I'm so sorry it's taken a while to finish it. Please leave a review if you can, I'd be very grateful. Thank you kindly.**_

 **CHAPTER 15.**

"Mom! You're home!"

Paige ran across the garage and pulled Ralph into a huge hug. Paige and Walter had flown home together, leaving Happy and Toby behind. With everything that was going on they'd wanted to stay a little longer to make sure Marnie was OK. Toby had even suggested he and Happy add a few days of vacation time and book a romantic getaway down in the Keys and, to his surprise, Walter had agreed.

"Hey, I've missed you," said Paige with a smile, refusing to let her son out of her clutches. "But it's way past your bedtime, Bucko," she added, although she didn't really mind at all that Cabe had allowed Ralph to wait up for her to get back.

"How was the flight?" asked Sylvester. "No, wait, if there was turbulence I don't want to know," he added, scrunching his nose.

"No turbulence, Sly," Paige assured him.

Paige had been nervous about spending over four hours alone in a plane with Walter – well, alone apart from the other three hundred or so passengers and crew – fearing an awkward conversation about the night they'd spent together.

Or worse, another fight about Tim.

But she needn't have worried at all as they'd talked mostly about Ralph, with Paige filling him in on the details of Drew's latest attempt to cause trouble.

They'd enjoyed each other's company, they'd talked and dozed and, more importantly perhaps, they'd _relaxed_ with each other. Paige hadn't felt like that with Walter for such a long time and she'd missed it.

She'd missed it so much.

"I'm sorry. Mom," said Ralph, suddenly, pulling away from Paige's arms. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Drew... my dad... um, _Drew_ and those emails."

"Listen to me," Paige answered, her voice soft, but firm. "You can _always_ talk to me, it doesn't matter what else is happening, you will _always_ be my number one priority. Do you understand?"

Ralph nodded. Then he turned to Walter. "We need to add extra layers of security into our systems to prevent anyone accessing them again," he said. "I was thinking about a way to strengthen the firewall by adding..."

"Why don't you two geniuses go talk firewalls in the kitchen for ten minutes?" suggested Paige, interrupting her son before he got too engrossed in his explanation. "I want to have a quick word with Cabe."

Walter placed a protective hand on Ralph's shoulder as they walked away, leaving Paige to wander over to the couch, to find Cabe talking on his phone.

"Yeah… yeah… I'm taking it easy," said Cabe. "No… no, because there's nothing to tell. Drop it, Doc. It was a long time ago and I know the Rear Admiral wouldn't want a jackass like you knowing her business. No… no, it was nothing like that. You just worry about Marnie, OK? Yeah… I know… yeah…. Have a good vacation," he added, before ending the call.

"Hey," said Paige, settling herself on the couch next to Cabe.

"That was Toby," said Cabe, although Paige had already worked that much out.

"He's not going to give up until you tell him about your history with Marchant," smiled Paige.

"It was a misunderstanding, that's all," replied Cabe. "I thought I was protecting her honour and it turns out I wasn't. That's all."

"No! You can't leave it there!" exclaimed Paige. "I promise I won't tell Toby."

Cabe sighed. "OK, OK. I walked in on Marchant and some bozo one evening in the gym," he began. "In the middle of a… how can I put this delicately… in the middle of a romantic entanglement."

Paige giggled. "I see," she said. "And…?"

"And I misread the situation," replied Cabe. "Thought this guy's advanced were unwanted. So I dragged him off her and punched his lights out. But what I didn't know was that they were an item."

"Oh. Awkward."

"They'd kept it quiet for months, but, well, it didn't stay quiet for long after that," sighed Cabe. "And then she was transferred to another base and I was shipped out to the Middle East and that was that."

"You were just trying to do the right thing," said Paige with a smile. "I'm sure Marchant understands that now."

"Maybe," agreed Cabe. "But not a word to the Doc, or anyone, Paige. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," nodded Paige, seriously. "So did Toby have any news?"

"Yeah, Lydia and Marnie are back home," replied Cabe, glad to be talking about something else. "That poor kid, she's been through hell and doesn't look like it's gonna end anytime soon."

"What's going to happen to Gary?" asked Paige.

"He'll be charged," replied Cabe. "Although Toby says he'll have a strong case for dismissing the charges on the grounds his mental capacity was diminished by, er, by..."

"By what Tim did to him," said Paige, finishing his sentence for him. "It's OK, Cabe, you can talk about it. I looked into Gary's eyes in the hospital, Cabe, they were... haunted. I'm not going to try to defend Tim's actions back then, he was a bully. There's no excuse."

"I hate bullies."

Paige looked round at the sound of Sylvester's voice.

"I know, Sly," she answered. She quickly looked away. She knew bullies had made Sylvester's childhood a misery and that now he would always see Tim in the same light as those kids who humiliated him.

Part of her wanted to call Tim – she hadn't spoken to him since Gary's confession – but at the same time she didn't think she could bear to hear him admit the truth of what had really happened sixteen years ago.

Maybe it wasn't true anyway? Maybe Gary was lying? Or delusional? Maybe...?

No. Deep down, Paige knew the truth. Tim had concealed a side of himself from her – several sides, in fact – that went against every principle she held dear. It was nothing short of ugly.

And she'd had no idea... or maybe she'd always known, but she hadn't dared admit it to herself? Not when being with Tim represented everything she'd ever wanted from a relationship – stability, security, companionship, love...

Love. Paige used to think she loved Tim, at least on some level, but she was certain now that what she'd felt for him – still felt for him, which made all this so goddamn hard - wasn't love. It never had been.

"There were times when I wished I could get my own back on them" continued Sylvester, snapping Paige out of her thoughts. "But even in my darkest days I never even _thought_ about going as far as Gary did. He did all of that just to try to make it look as though Tim had hacked into Homeland files."

"He wasn't working alone," Paige reminded them, more defensively than she had intended. "And he certainly wasn't the mastermind behind the plan. I think once Lieutenant Shields got involved it was out of Gary's hands. Seems like Shields would've gone to any lengths to protect his father's reputation."

"Shields Junior already has a handful of minor misdemeanours on his record," explained Sylvester.

"You remember that old saying, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" asked Cabe, with a knowing look. "Well, I did some digging this afternoon. Turns out Shields Senior had a habit of making questionable decisions during his career."

Sylvester nodded. "Like overruling a court martial and falsifying records to save Tim Armstrong's career," he noted, dryly. Then he looked apologetically at Paige. "Oh… oh…" he stammered. "I didn't mean…"

"It's OK, Sly," Paige interrupted him, a small reassuring smile appearing on her lips. "What happened, happened and I'm dealing with it. I don't want you guys walking on eggshells around me."

Sylvester nodded.

Cabe shook his head sadly. He wasn't naïve, he knew there was corruption everywhere – even amongst those who were supposed to be serving the country – but this one had hit close to home. His time in the Marines had taught him so much and he had a lot to thank the Navy for.

"Merchant's gonna be so pissed," he said, with a knowing smile. "I'd love to be a fly on the wall when she confronts Shields."

"Gary claimed he knew nothing about the murder of the truck driver," Paige told them. "He said the guy was an old friend of his. Do you think that was Shields too?"

Cabe shrugged. "Wouldn't surprise me," he said. "Gary needs to be more careful about choosing his friends in future."

Paige nodded and glanced over to the table where Ralph and Walter were still talking.

Cabe followed her line of sight. "The kid missed you like crazy," he said, with a smile.

"He missed someone else too," noted Paige and she couldn't help but smile too as a warm, fuzzy feeling washed over her. She hated to break them up, but it was very late and she needed to get Ralph home. "Ralph!" she called out. "Time to go!"

"OK," Ralph replied, with little enthusiasm. He looked at Walter with sad eyes. "Y'know, if we were a proper family I wouldn't have to go home," he said.

"But we _are_ a family," insisted Walter. "Scorpion is a family, a cyclone."

"I mean a _real_ family," replied Ralph. "My mom's gonna break up with Tim now – she has to, now she knows what a piece of work he really is – so then you and her can be together and you can be my Dad. Please, Walter, don't screw it up this time."

Walter's eyes widened in surprise at Ralph's directness. "I… I…" he began, trying desperately to form a sentence. "I don't think that's what y…y…your Mom wants," he said eventually.

Ralph stared silently at him for a moment in disbelief.

"Ralph," began Walter. "It's not that I…"

But Ralph had heard enough. "You really don't get it, do you," he said, with a heavy sigh. Then he pushed the chair back and got to his feet. "I need to go," he added. "We can work on the firewall after school."

Walter watched Ralph walk over to Paige and he'd never hated himself more than he did in that moment.

 _I'm sorry… I want to make you understand… but how can I when I don't understand it myself…?_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Surprise!"

Happy looked up from her latest soldering project at the familiar voice. She was definitely surprised to see Marnie and Sara walking into the garage. It had been a few weeks since their trip to Florida and Marnie had kept in touch with Paige and the team via emails and Skype calls, but she hadn't mentioned a visit at all.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked with a grin, taking off her protective gloves as she spoke. "Paige!" she called out. "We have visitors!"

Paige walked in carrying a pile of old files she been sorting through and smiled when she saw who had arrived.

"I figured Mom needed a vacation now she's out of the hospital," explained Marnie. "And, well, we had some money come through from… from Tim," she added, looking away from Paige.

Happy looked at Sara in surprise. "Tim?" she repeated, not quite able to believe Tim was really facing up to his responsibilities.

"Yes, that's right," Sara confirmed. "Tim has started making maintenance payments now Marnie's living back at home with me. He offered to make a back-payment towards all the years he missed. I didn't want to accept it, but Marnie and I talked and we decided to spend some of the money on a trip to LA to see you guys."

"Oh," said Paige, quietly. "Tim didn't say anything to me about the money."

As soon as she'd said it, she wished she'd kept quiet.

"You mean… you and Tim are still…" began Marnie, shooting a puzzled look in Happy's direction, but Happy just shrugged.

Paige knew everyone had assumed she would end her relationship with Tim weeks ago, but she hadn't. She couldn't. She didn't know why, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead she'd spent the last few weeks pretending everything was normal. Tim had admitted to bullying Gary and told her how sorry he was for the consequences of his behaviour. He'd told her becoming a Navy SEAL had changed him, that he'd seen things on active service that had made him a different person to the idiot he was back then and Paige had decided to take him at his word.

So she called Tim every evening for a chat - just like she'd done almost every day since he'd left for the Middle East - and she ended every call with a quick _'Love you too'_ , even though deep down she knew she didn't really love him at all. She laughed at Sylvester's awkwardness every time the ' _T-Word'_ was mentioned by anyone on the team and she generally forced herself to carry on as if nothing had happened.

She assumed Toby could probably see straight through the façade and into her tumultuous state of mind, but to his credit he hadn't forced her to talk about it, which had been a huge relief because she had no idea how to put what was going on in her head into words.

"We're working through some things," Paige said in answer to Marnie's question.

Marnie said nothing, but her confused expression was enough.

"So, how're things back home?" asked Happy, keen to change the subject.

"Well, we still don't have a date for Gary's trial," replied Sara. "Lydia's being brave, but I know she's going out of her mind. Gary's driving her crazy at home and…"

"He should still be in jail," snapped Marnie, suddenly and stormed off towards the kitchen.

Happy and Paige looked at Sara with concern.

"She keeps acting like this," Sara explained. "They finally found the nurse who swapped my meds and Gary admitted he paid her to do it. I didn't know what to think at first, but Gary and I talked and… well, he wasn't in his right mind was he and I'm the last person to make judgements. So I accepted his apology and I'm trying to move on for Lydia's sake, but Marnie… Marnie took it really hard because she thinks I wouldn't have gotten so sick again if it wasn't for Gary. Truth is, she's right, but… oh, it's all such a mess! I was talking to Doc Ellis about her the other day and he figures she blames Gary for ruining any chance she had of a relationship with her dad… with Tim."

"Reckon Tim did that all by himself," noted Happy dryly.

"Gary's been like a father himself to Marnie all these years," noted Paige, sympathetically. "It must be so confusing for her."

Sara nodded. "Either way, she's not coping," she said. "Between her and Lydia… I mean, six weeks ago I was in a mental health institution and now I feel like I'm the one holding everyone else together."

"Are you… OK?" asked Paige. "I mean, if you need any help…"

"Thanks," smiled Sara. "But, weirdly, my head's in a good place right now and besides, I owe it to them both. I've put Marnie through so much over the years and Lydia's been taking care of me since we were kids, so now it's my turn to take care of the people I love."

"Let me talk to her?" suggested Happy.

Paige looked at her in surprise. "You? Are you… are you sure? I mean, maybe I should try, or Toby's due back soon so he could…"

"No, I'll do it," insisted Happy and before Sara or Paige could object, she'd walked away.

Marnie spun round as Happy approached her. "I suppose you're gonna tell me I'm being too hard on the guy who used me to carry out his dumb plan, right? The guy who put me in _danger!_ The guy who dragged up all this stupid stuff from the past about my dad!"

"Listen to me," began Happy, firmly. "I know a thing or two about having Daddy issues, OK? Mine left me on the steps of an orphanage and for years I thought I hated him for it, but it was just 'cause I didn't understand. It took me years to figure it out, but he's back in my life now... at least, he was for a while and he will be again when he gets outta jail."

"Jail?" queried Marnie. This was the first he'd heard about Patrick Quinn's current whereabouts.

"Long story," replied Happy with a dismissive shrug. "Point is, he made mistakes, but he's still my dad and I still love him. I know Gary's not perfect, but…"

"Gary's not my dad, Tim Armstrong's my dad," retorted Marnie, huffily. "Turns out he's total jerk too, though."

Happy sighed. "I know Tim," she replied. "And he's not all bad. He's not the best, but he's not a total loser. Maybe one day you might find a way to connect, just like me and my Dad did? In the meantime, give Gary a chance. Trust me, a surrogate Dad is as good as a real Dad any day."

She paused as she thought about all the times Cabe was there for her – for everyone on the team – when they needed a father figure.

"I don't know too much about it – you'll have to speak to Toby if you want details," Happy continued. "But the way I understand it is this. Because of what happened back then - because of Tim's bullying and how he was allowed to get away with it while Gary's Navy career went down the toilet - Gary got himself fixated on getting revenge. And when you're that obsessed you're not thinking clearly. Gary didn't mean to put you in danger, he didn't mean to cause all this trouble. Cabe said if he's prepared to testify against Shields and his old Navy pal, he might get away without serving any time at all. Whatever happens, though, I figure he's gonna be paying for what he did for a long time one way or another and, well, he could probably use your support right now."

Marnie just shrugged.

"OK, suit yourself," said Happy and she turned away.

"Happy," Marnie called out and Happy turned back. "Thanks," the teenager added, quietly. "It's just… everything's so messed up right now and I can't… I can't…"

Happy flashed a supportive smile. "I know."

She hoped it was enough, she didn't know what else to say.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Keep the gloves."

Toby glanced over his shoulder to make sure none of the team had overheard his fiancée's whispered suggestion, but they were all too engrossed with the virtual reality formal dance they'd arranged for Happy's friend, Ada. "Whatever you say, Darlin'," he answered with a wink and he slowly peeled off the silky glove from his right hand. "Ooh, this is really lighting your fire!" he exclaimed with delight.

"You danced pretty good with Sly just now," Happy responded. "We should do that sometime."

"Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers role play wouldn't be the same without dancing," noted Toby, his heart rate increasing at the prospect of a romantic evening he certainly hadn't expected just a few hours ago as they were racing to keep Ada alive.

"Hold that thought," ordered Happy. "Right now I want to talk about Paige finally breaking up with Tim. It only took her, what, three months?" she added, rolling her eyes.

Immediately all Toby's lascivious thoughts disappeared. "She did it in her own time," he replied, diplomatically. "And she actually seems relatively calm about it."

"So, do you think O'Brien's gonna make his move?"

"Well, for now he's 'giving her space'," he replied, miming quotation marks in the air.

Happy narrowed her eyes in confusion. "He's doing what? No, wait, I don't think I wanna know."

"You really don't," agreed Toby. He let out a long, slow breath. "Y'know, Lovebug, not so long ago Walt wasn't ready to be with Paige, he wouldn't have been able to process all the complexities of being in a relationship, but now… now I think he might just have evolved enough. He'll have to be careful, though. Watching Paige when Veronica was around… well, let's just say she has baggage and she needs to deal with it. Paige is more vulnerable than I realised, Sugarplum."

"O'Brien's vulnerable too," Happy pointed out.

Toby nodded seriously. "Well ain't that the truth. He loves her, though and she loves him. I'm sure of that."

"Isn't love enough?" Happy asked. "We have our problems, our differences, but our love gets us through, right?"

A smile spread across Toby's lips. "You, Darlin', are such a romantic," he said with a wink and he leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Look!" hissed Happy, suddenly, pushing him away and nodding in the direction of the makeshift dancefloor where Ada's formal was, apparently, not quite over yet.

Toby spun round. Sylvester, Cabe and Ralph were standing by the table polishing off the last of the snacks, but that wasn't what had caught Happy's attention.

To Toby's great surprise, Walter and Paige were dancing.

Together.

"So much for giving her space," he noted.

Over on the dancefloor, Walter tried desperately to relax as he rested his hand on Paige's shoulder. He'd barely been able to form the word _'yes'_ when Paige had asked him if he'd like to dance with her and his breathing had only just started to return to something resembling normal.

The spinning disco ball cast a glittering display as they stepped in unison and Walter tried desperately to keep a reasonable distance between their bodies, but he ached to be closer to her.

"I think Toby and Happy are watching us," he whispered. "Toby is m…m…most likely to jump to… to _conclusions_. Incorrect conclusions, that is. Inappropriate conclusions. He's going to be unbearable."

Paige smiled. "Ignore him," she replied, squeezing his hand in what she hoped he would interpret as a supportive gesture. "So far this evening I've danced with Ralph and Cabe and there were definitely no _conclusions_ to be jumped to there. This is no different. We're just two friends dancing together."

"Y…y…yes," nodded Walter. "Friends."

"To be honest," continued Paige. "If us dancing together distracts Toby from asking me about… well, about my recent break-up, then I'll be happy. I really don't feel like being analysed right now."

"Toby can be quite persistent," noted Walter. "But, as you frequently tell me yourself, talking can prevent negative thoughts becoming destructive. You shouldn't… you shouldn't bottle up your emotions."

Paige smiled. "I didn't think you believed in… what do you call it? New Age mumbo jumbo?"

Walter shrugged. "I just want to make sure you're OK, Paige."

"I'm fine," she lied. "I guess I'm just adjusting to the idea of being alone again."

"You don't have to be alone forever."

Paige was completely taken aback by his response and for a moment she could offer nothing by way of a reply, or acknowledgement. Her mind raced as she tried to convince herself he'd meant nothing by it.

It was just friendly reassurance… wasn't it?

In the end she broke the silence with a simple, "Thank you, Walter."

The song they'd been dancing to faded out to be replaced by the soulful voice of Whitney Houston. As the pace of their dancing slowed to match the gentle beat, Paige realised she could feel Walter's warm breath on her face. Had she closed the distance between them, or had he? Did it matter?

His hand slipped further down her back and her breath hitched. What was happening?

Nothing, they were just dancing… right?

"I'm sorry," she said, spontaneously.

"What for?" asked Walter, genuine concern etched across his brow.

Paige sighed. "For the mess I made," she replied. "For allowing Tim to come between us and threaten our friendship. I shouldn't have let it happen, Walter."

"It's OK," Walter replied, trying to sound reassuring.

"No, it's not OK," Paige answered him. "I let things with Tim drag on for far too long," she continued, unable to stop the words tumbling out now. "I thought he was coming home and we could talk about it all properly, face to face. I wanted to hear his side of things, I wanted to look him in the eye…" she trailed off and sighed deeply.

Maybe she shouldn't be telling Walter any of this? Maybe she did need to talk to Toby after all? But Walter had been right, talking to someone was making her feel better.

But was it making Walter feel worse? She honestly didn't know. He had become so difficult to read lately. It had never been easy, but it was definitely more difficult now than it used to be before Tim had come along and driven a wedge between them.

And she'd allowed it to happen.

"Then he accepted that promotion," continued Paige, unable to stop herself now. "And I finally realised that he doesn't want to fix our problems. He told me he was sorry for his behaviour in the past, but that doesn't really change anything, does it. He isn't the person I thought he was and I can't reconcile that with the way I feel… the way I used to feel. And he doesn't want to have any kind of relationship with Marnie, he's made that quite clear and so I finally realised that I can't be with him. I don't _want_ to be with him. I don't think I ever did. God, I really screwed up, didn't I. You must think I'm such an idiot.

Walter looked at her, shocked that she would think that of him. "No, no I don't," he insisted. "But… but I do think you should talk to Toby," he urged.

He was worried about her. She seemed to be shouldering too much of the blame for her dumbster fire of a relationship and that wasn't right. There was only one person to blame, wasn't there? Timothy Armstrong.

"I'll think about it," she replied.

They smiled at each other and continued dancing as a different song began to play. Paige began to lose herself in the moment and she could feel the stress of the last few months starting to melt away as they moved together. At that moment Tim was a distant memory and it felt so liberating. All she could think about was Walter and this dance.

"Paige?"

Walter's voice cut into her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry… what?" She stumbled over her response, feeling her face flush, but then instantly wondering why she felt guilty just for enjoying dancing with Walter.

 _She was dancing with Walter._

And it felt good.

 **THE END.**


End file.
